- 


W.  CLARK  RUSSELL 


tftor  of  "  A  Marriage  at  Sem,"    "The  Mate  of  th*  Vancouve, 


M.  A.  DONOHUE    &    CO. 

407-429   DEARBOKN   STREET, 
CHICAGO. 


HARKAVVAY 
SERIES  OF  BOOKS 

BY  BRACEBRIDGE  HEMING. 


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NO.  TITLE. 

1  Jack  Harkaway's  School  Days. 

2  Jack  Harkaway  After  School  Days. 

3  Jack  Harkaway  Afloat  and  Ashore. 

4  Jack  Harkaway  at  Oxford,  Part  1. 

5  Jack  Harkaway  at  Oxford,  Part  2. 

6  Jack  Harkaway  Among  the  Brigands,  Part  1. 

7  Jack  Harkaway  Among  the  Brigands,  Part  2. 

8  Jack  Harkaway's   Adventures  'Around    the 

World. 

9  Jack  Harkaway  in  America  and  Cuba. 

10  Jack  Harkaway's  Adventures  in  China. 

11  Jack  Harkaway's  Adventures  in  Greece, 

Part  1. 

12  Jack  Harkaway's  Adventures  in  Greece 

Part  2. 

13  Jack  Harkaway's  Adventures  in  Australia. 

14  Jack  Harkaway  and  His  Boy  Tinkei,  Part  1. 

15  Jack  Harkaway  and  His  Boy  Tinker,  Part  2. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers 

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CONTENTS 


L  The  Storm 1 

IL  The  Iceberg 8 

IJL  I  Low  My  CompaaioM 80 

IV.  I  Quit  the  Wreck       ...  87 

V.  I  Bight  a  White  Coae*    .                         .        .  84 

VL  An  Inland  of  Ice                          •-...,  43 

TIL  I  am  Startled  by  a  DLwrrerjr          ...  §4 

VHL  The  Frozen  Schooner                   .         ...  46 

IX,  I  Lose  my  Boat 73 

X.  Another  Startling  Diacorery        ...  ti 

XL  I  Make  Farther  DiacoTerie.                              .  87 

XII.  A  Lonely  Night          .....  106 

XIIL  I  Explore  the  Hold  and  Foreeaatle                     .  188 

TTV,  An  Extraordinary  OOOVRMM*      ,         .        .  1SS 

XV.  The  Pirate'*  Story 14T 

TVI.  I  Hear  of  a  Great  TMOTM  IfT 

XVIL  The  Treasure 181 

XYIIL  We  Talk  OT«  oar  8ito«tte«         .         .         .  Iff 

XIX.  We  Take  a  View  »f  th«  I*e     ,         .         .  »T 

XX,  A  Merry  Evening 117 

XXL  We  Explore  the  Mine*   .                           .         .  JSt 

XXIL  A  Chang*  Comet  Orer  the  HWukjaM         .  363 

XXIII.  The  Ice  Break*  Away S67 

XXIV.  The  Frenchman  Die*           ....  880 
XXV.  The  Schooner  Free*  Henelf    ....  894 

XX VL  I  am  Troubled  by  Thought*  of  tke  TIMMM  311 

XXVIL  I  Encounter  a  Whaler     .    .  -  .         .        .         .382 

XXVIIL  I  Strike  a  Bargain  with  the  TaakM     .         .  337 

XXIX,  I  Value  the  Lading         ...  ,861 

XXX.  Our  Progrwfl  to  the  CkaaMi                ,         ,  9«4 

XXXI    The  KM                          .                          .  174 

Peefawriy*           , Iff 


2138123 


CHAPTER   I; 

THK  STORM. 

THE  Laughing  Mary  was  a  light  ship,  as 
sailors  term  a  vessel  that  stands  high  upon  the 
water,  having  discharged  her  cargo  at  Callao, 
from  which  port  we  were  proceeding  in  ballast  to 
Cape  Town,  South  Africa,  there  to  call  for  orders. 
Our  run  to  within  a  few  parallels  of  the  latitude  of 
the  Horn  had  been  extremely  pleasant;  the  pro- 
verbial mildness  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  was  in  the 
mellow  sweetness  of  the  wind  and  in  the  gentle 
undulations  of  the  silver-laced  swell ;  but  scarce 
had  we  passed  the  height  of  forty-nine  degree? 
when  the  weather  grew  sullen  and  dark,  a  heavy 
bank  of  clouds  of  a  livid  hue  rose  in  the  north- 
east, and  the  wind  came  and  went  in  small  guns, 
the  gusts  venting  themselves  in  dreary  moansv 
insomuch  that  our  oldest  hands  confessed  they 
had  never  heard  blasts  more  portentous. 

The  gale  came  on  with  some  lightning  and 
several  claps  of  thunder  and  heavy  rain.  Though 
it  was  but  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  air 
was  so  dusky  that  the  men  had  to  feel  for  the 
ropes ;  and  when  the  first  of  the  tempest  stormed 
down  upon  us  the  appearance  of  the  sea  was 
uncommonly  terrible,  being  swept  and  mangled 
into  boiling  froth  in  the  north-east  quarter,  whilst 


t  THE  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

all  about  us  and  in  the  south-west  it  lay  m  a  sort 
of  swollen  huddle  of  shadows,  glooming  into  the 
darkness  of  the  sky  without  offering  the  smallest 
glimpse  of  the  horizon. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  hurricane  struck  us.  We 
had  bared  the  brig  down  to  the  close-reefed  main- 
topsail  ;  yet,  though  we  were  dead  before  the 
outfly,  its  first  blow  rent  the  fragment  of  sail  as 
if  it  were  formed  of  smoke,  and  in  an  instant  it 
disappeared,  flashing  over  the  bows  like  a 
scattering  of  torn  paper,  leaving  nothing  but  the 
bolt-ropes  behind.  The  bursting  of  the  topsail  was 
like  the  explosion  of  a  large  cannon.  In  a  breath 
the  brig  was  smothered  with  froth  toni  up  in  huge 
clouds,  and  hurled  over  and  ahead  of  her  in  vast 
quivering  bodies  that  filled  the  wind  with  a  dismal 
twilight  of  their  own,  in  which  nothing  was  visi- 
ble but  their  terrific  speeding.  Through  these 
slinging,  soft,  and  singing  masses  of  spume  drove 
the  ram  in  horizontal  steel-like  lines,  which 
gleamed  in  the  lightning  stroke  as  though  indeed 
they  were  barbed  weapons  of  bright  metal,  darted 
by  armies  of  invisible  spirits  raving  out  their  war 
cries  as  they  chased  us. 

The  storm  made  a  loud  thunder  in  the  sky,  and 
this  tremendous  utterance  dominated  without  sub- 
duing the  many  screaming,  hissing,  shrieking,  and 
hooting  noises  raised  in  the  rigging  and  about  the 
decks,  and  the  wild,  seething,  weltering  sound  of 
the  sea,  maddened  by  the  gale  and  struggling  in 
us  enormous  passion  under  the  first  choking  and 
iron  grip  of  the  hurricane's  hand. 

I  had  used  the  ocean  for  above  ten  jr«*rt,  but 


TMM  STMLM.  I 

never  had  I  encountered  anything  suddener  or 
fiercer  in  the  form  of  weather  than  this.  Though 
the  wind  blew  from  the  tropics  it  was  as  cruel 
in  bitterness  as  frost.  Yet  there  was  neither  snow 
nor  hail,  only  rain  that  seemed  to  pass  like  a 
knife  through  the  head  if  you  showed  your  face 
to  it  for  a  second.  It  was  necessary  to  bring  the 
brig  to  the  wind  before  the  sea  rose.  The  helm 
was  put  down,  and  without  a  rag  of  canvas  on  her 
she  came  round;  but  when  she  brought  the 
hurricane  fair  abeam,  I  thought  it  was  all  over 
with  us.  She  lay  down  to  it  until  her  bulwarks 
were  under  water,  and  the  sheer-poles  in  the 
rigging  above  the  rail  hidden. 

In  this  posture  she  hung  so  long  that  Captain 
Rosy,  the  master,  bawled  to  me  to  tell  the 
carpenter  to  stand  by  to  cut  away  the  topmast 
rigging.  But  the  Laughing  Mary,  as  the 
brig  was  called,  was  a  buoyant  ship  and  lightly 
sparred,  and  presently  bringing  the  sea  on  the 
bow,  through  our  seizing  a  small  tarpaulin  in  the 
weather  main  -shrouds,  she  erected  her  masts 
afresh,  like  some  sentient  creature  pricking 
its  ears  for  the  affray,  and  with  that  showed 
herself  game  and  made  indifferently  good  weather 
of  it. 

But    though   the  first    rage  of  the    storm  was 
terrible  enough,  its  fierceness  did  not  come  to  its 
height  till  about  one  o'clock  in  the  middle  watch. 
Long  before  then  the  sea  had  grown  mountainous, 
and  the  dance  of  our  eggshell  of  a  brig  upon  i; 
sickening    and    affrighting.     The    h- 
Andean  peaks  of  black  water  loo  ..>jgh 


4  THB  FROM*  Fiaxm 

to  brush  the  lowering  soot  of  the  heavens  with 
the  blue  and  yellow  phosphoric  fires  which 
sparkled  ghastly  amid  the  bursting  froth.  Bodies 
of  foam  flew  like  the  flashings  of  pale  sheet- 
lightning  through  our  rigging  and  over  us,  and  a 
dreadful  roaring  of  mighty  surges  in  mad  career, 
and  battling  as  they  ran,  rose  out  of  the  sea  to 
deepen  yet  the  thunderous  bellowing  of  the 
hurricane  on  high. 

No  man  could  show  himself  on  deck  and 
preserve  his  life.  Between  the  rails  it  was  waist 
nigh,  and  this  water,  converted  by  the  motions  of 
the  brig  into  a  wild  torrent,  had  its  volume 
perpetually  maintained  by  ton-loads  of  sea  falling 
in  dull  and  pounding  crashes  over  the  bows  on  to 
the  forecastle.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done 
but  secure  the  helm  and  await  the  issue  below,  for, 
if  we  were  to  be  drowned,  it  would  make  a  more 
easy  foundering  to  go  down  dry  and  warm  in  the 
cabin,  than  to  perish  half-frozen  and  already 
nearly  strangled  by  the  bitter  cold  and  flooded 
tempest  on  deck. 

There  was  Captain  Rosy ;  there  was  myself,  by 
name  Paul  Rodney,  mate  of  the  brig;  and  there 
were  the  remaining  seven  of  a  crew,  including  the 
carpenter.  We  sat  in  the  cabin,  one  of  us  from 
time  to  time  clawing  his  way  up  the  ladder  to  peer 
through  the  companion,  and  we  looked  at  one 
another  with  the  melancholy  of  malefactors 
waiting  to  be  called  from  their  cells  for  the  last 
jaunt  to  Tyburn. 

"  May  God  have  mercv  upon  us  1 "  cries  the 
carpenter.  "  There  must  be  an  earthquake  iiuido 


TOT  STOBM.  § 

thit  storm.  Something  more  than  wind  is  going 
to  the  making  of  these  seas.  Hear  that,  now  ( 
naught  less  than  a  forty-foot  chuck-up  could  ha' 
ended  in  that  souse,  mates." 

"  A  man  can  die  but  once/1  says  Captain  Rosy, 
"  and  he'll  not  perish  the  quicker  for  looking  at 
his  end  with  a  stout  heart ;  and  with  that  he  put 
his  hand  into  the  locker  on  which  he  had  been 
sitting  and  pulled  out  a  jar  of  whisky,  which, 
after  putting  his  lips  to  it  and  keeping  them 
glued  there  whilst  you  could  have  counted  twenty, 
he  handed  to  me,  and  so  it  went  round,  coming 
back  to  him  empty. 

I  often  have  the  sight  of  that  cabin  in  my 
mind's  eye ;  and  it  was  not  long  afterwards  that 
it  would  visit  me  as  such  a  vision  of  comfort,  I  would 
with  a  grateful  heart  have  accepted  it  with  tenfold 
darker  conditions  of  danger,  had  it  been  possible 
to  exchange  my  situation  for  it.  A  lantern  hung 
from  a  beam,  and  swung  violently  to  the  rolling  and 
pitching  of  the  brig.  The  alternations  of  its  light 
put  twenty  different  meanings,  one  after  another, 
into  the  settled  dismal  and  rueful  expressions  in  the 
faces  of  my  companions.  We  were  clad  in  warm 
clothes,  and  the  steam  rose  from  the  damp  in  our 
coats  and  trousers  like  vapour  from  wet  straw. 
The  drink  mottled  some  of  our  faces,  but  the 
spirituous  tincture  only  imparted  a  quality  of  irony 
to  the  melancholy  of  our  visages,  as  if  our 
mournfulness  were  not  wholly  sincere,  when,  God 
knows,  our  hearts  were  taken  up  with  counting 
the  minutes  when  we  should  find  ourselves 
bursting  for  want  of  breath  under  water. 


0 

Thus  K  continued  till  daybreak,  all  which  time 
we  strove  to  encourage  one  another  as  best  we 
could,  sometimes  with  words,  sometimes  with 
putting  the  bottle  about.  It  was  impossible  for 
any  of  us  at  any  moment  to  show  more  than  our 
noses  above  the  companion  ;  and  even  at  that  you 
needed  the  utmost  caution,  for  the  decks  being 
full  of  water,  it  was  necessary  to  await  the  lurch 
of  the  vessel  before  moving  the  slide  or  cover  to 
the  companion,  else  you  stood  to  drown  the 
cabin. 

Being  exceedingly  anxious,  for  the  brig  lay 
unwatched,  I  looked  forth  on  one  occasion  longer 
than  the  others  chose  to  venture,  and  beheld  the 
most  extravagant  scene  of  raging  commotion  it 
could  enter  the  brain  of  man  to  imagine.  The  night 
was  as  black  as  the  bottom  of  a  well ;  but  the  pro- 
digious swelling  and  flinging  of  white  waters  hove  a 
faintness  upon  the  air  that  was  in  its  way  a  dim 
light,  by  which  k  was  just  possible  to  distinguish 
the  reeling  masts  to  the  height  of  the  tops,  and  to 
observe  the  figure  of  the  brig  springing  black  and 
trembling  out  of  the  head  of  a  surge  that  had 
broken  over  and  smothered  her  as  in  a  cauldron, 
and  to  note  the  shapes  '  of  the  nearer  liquid 
acclivities  as  they  bore  down  upon  our  weather 
bow,  catching  the  brig  fair  under  the  bluff,  and  so 
sloping  her  that  she  seemed  to  stand  end  on,  and 
so  heeling  her  that  the  sea  would  wash  to  the 
height  of  the  main  hatch.  Indeed,  had  she  been 
loaded,  and  therefore  deep,  she  could  not  have  lived 
*n  hour  in  that  hollow  and  frightful  ocean;  but 
g  nothing  in  her  but  ballast  she  was  like  a 


THE  STORM.  7 

biaddci \  and  swung  up  the  surges  and  blew  away 
to  leeward  like  an  empty  cask. 

When  the  dawn  broke  something  of  iti 
midnight  fury  went  out  of  the  gale.  The 
carpenter  made  shift  to  sound  the  well,  and  to  our 
great  satisfaction  found  but  little  water,  only  as 
much  a&  we  had  a  right  to  suppose  she  would  take 
in  above.  But  it  was  impossible  to  stand  at  the 
pumps,  so  we  returned  to  the  cabin  and  brewed 
some  cold  punch  and  did  what  we  could  to  keep 
our  spirits  hearty.  By  noon  the  wind  had 
weakened  yet,  but  the  sea  still  ran  very  heavily, 
and  the  sky  was  uncommonly  thick  with  piles  of 
dusky,  yellowish,  hurrying  clouds ;  and  though 
we  could  fairly  reckon  upon  our  position,  the 
atmosphere  was  so  nipping  it  was  difficult  to 
persuade  ourselves  that  Cape  Horn  was  not  close 
aboard. 

We  could  now  work  the  pumps,  and  a  short 
spell  freed  the  brig.  We  got  up  a  new  main- 
topsail  and  bent  it,  and,  setting  the  reefed  foresail, 
put  the  vessel  before  the  wind,  and  away  she  ran, 
chased  by  the  swollen  seas.  Thus  we  continued 
till  by  dead  reckoning  we  calculated  that  we 
were  about  thirty  leagues  south  of  the  parallel  of 
the  Horn,  and  in  longitude  eighty-seven  degrees 
west.  We  then  boarded  our  larboard  tacks  and 
brought  the  brig  as  close  to  the  wind  as  it  was 
proper  \£>  lay  her  for  a  progress  that  should  not 
be  wholly  leeway;  but  four  hours  after  we  had 
handled  the  braces  the  gale,  that  had  not  veered 
two  points  since  it  first  came  on  to  blow,  stormed 
up  again  into  its  first  fury ;  and  the  momm 


TUB  Pfton* 

tit  of  July,  anno  1801,  found  the  Langking 
Mary  passionately  labouring  in  the  midst  of  an 
enraged  Cape  Horn  sea,  her  jibboom  and  fore 
top-gallant  mast  gone,  her  ballast  shifted,  so  that 
her  posture  even  in  a  calm  would  have  exhibited 
her  with  her  starboard  channels  under,  and  her 
decks  swept  by  enormous  surges,  which/fetching 
her  larboard  bilge  dreadful  blows,  thundered  in 
mighty  green  masses  over  her. 

CHAPTER  II 

THE   ICEBERG. 

THE  loss  of  the  spars  I  have  named  was  no  great 
matter,  nor  were  we  to  be  intimidated  by  such 
weather  as  was  to  be  expected  off  Cape  Horn. 
For  what  sailor  entering  this  icy  and  tempestuous 
tract  of  waters  but  knows  that  here  he  must 
expect  to  find  Nature  in  her  most  violent  moods, 
crueller  and  more  unreckonable  than  a  mad 
woman,  who  one  moment  looks  with  a  silent 
sinister  sullenness  upon  you,  and  the  next  is 
shrieking  with  devilish  laughter  as  she  makes  as 
if  to  spnng  upon  you  ? 

But  there  was  an  inveteracy  in  the  gale  which 
had  driven  us  down  to  this  part  that  bore  heavily 
upon  our  spirits.  It  was  impossible  to  trim  the 
ballast.  We  dared  not  veer  so  as  to  bring  the 
•hip  on  the  other  tack.  And  the  slopa  of  the 
decks,  added  to  the  fierce  wild  motions  of  the 
fabric,  made  our  situation  as  unendurable  as  that 
of  one  who  should  be  confined  in  a  cask  and  sent 
rolling  downhill.  It  was  impossible  to  light  a  fire. 


Tn 


and  we  could  not  therefore  dress  our  food  or 
obtain  a  warm  drink.  The  cold  was  beyond 
language  severe.  The  rigging  was  glazed  with 
ice,  and  great  pendants  of  the  silvery  brilliance 
of  crystal  hung  from  the  yards,  bowsprit,  and 
catheads,  whilst  the  sails  were  frozen  to  the 
hardness  of  granite,  and  lay  like  sheets  of  iron 
rolled  up  in  gaskets  of  steel.  We  had  no  means 
of  drying  our  clothes,  nor  were  we  able  so  to  move 
as  by  exercise  we  might  keep  ourselves  warm. 
Never  once  did  the  sun  shine  to  give  us  the 
encouragement  of  his  glorious  beam.  Hour  after 
hour  found  us  amid  the  same  distracting  scene  : 
the  tall  olive-coloured  seas  hurling  out  their  rage 
in  foam  as  they  roared  towards  us  in  ranges  of 
dissolving  cliffs  ;  the  wind  screaming  and  whistling 
through  our  grey  and  frozen  rigging;  the  water 
washing  in  floods  about  our  decks,  with  the  ends 
of  the  running  gear  snaking  about  in  the  torrent, 
and  the  live  stock  lying  drowned  and  stiff  in  their 
coops  and  pen  near  the  caboose. 

With  helm  lashed  and  yards  pointed  to  the 
wind  thus  we  lay,  thus  we  drifted,  steadily 
trending  with  the  send  of  each  giant  surge  further 
and  deeper  into  the  icy  regions  of  the  south-west, 
helpless,  foreboding,  disconsolate. 

It  was  the  night  of  the  fourth  day  of  the  month. 
The  crew  were  forward  in  the  forecastle,  and  I 
knew  not  if  any  man  was  on  deck  saving  myself. 
In  truth,  there  was  no  place  in  which  a  watch 
could  be  kept,  if  it  were  not  in  the  companion 
hatch.  Such  was  the  violence  with  which  the 
seas  broke  over  the  brig  that  it  was  at  the  risk  of 


jo  TTTF   PROZFN   PTRATTI. 

his  life  a  man   crawled  the  distance  betwixt 

e  and  the  Quarter-deck.  It  had  been  as 
thick  as  mud  all  Jay,  and  now  upon  this  flying 
gloom  of  haz«,  sleet,  and  spray  had  descended 
the  blackness  of  the  night. 

I  stood  in  the  companion  as  in  a  sentry-box, 
with  my  eyes  just  above  the  cover.  Nothing  wai 
to  be  seen  but  sheets  of  ghostly  white  water 
sweeping  up  the  blackness  on  the  vessel's  lee,  or 
breaking  and  boiling  to  windward.  It  was  sheet 
blind  chaos  to  the  sight,  and  you  might  have 
supposed  that  the  brig  was  in  the  midst  of  some 
enormous  vaporous  turmoil,  so  illusive  and 
indefinable  were  the  shadows  of  the  storm- 
tormented  night — one  block  of  blackness  melting 
into  another,  with  sometimes  an  extraordinary 
faintness  of  light  speeding  along  the  dark  sky  like 
to  the  dim  reflection  of  a  lanthorn  flinging  its 
radiance  from  afar,  which  no  doubt  must  have 
been  thr  *on  of  some  particular  bright  and 

extensive  bed  of  foam  upon  a  sooty  belly  on  high, 
hanging  lower  than  the  other  clouds,  1  say,  you 
might  hav^  thought  yourself  in  the  midst  of  some 
hellish  conflict  of  vapour  but  for  the  substantial 
thun  the  surges  upon  the  vessel  and  the 

shriek  of  the  slung  masses  of  water  flying  like 
cannon  balls  I;  ;he  masts. 

After  a  long  look    round   into   the 

obscurii  froth,  I  went  below  for 

mthful    of  .md  a  bite   of   supper,  the 

hour  being  rigi  in   the  second  dog  watch 

as   v  .ht  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

The  captain    and    carpenter  were   in    the    cabin. 


Tn 

Upon  the  swing-tray  over  the  table  were  a  piece 
of  corned  beef,  some  biscuit,  and  a  bottle  of 
Hollands. 

"Nothing  to  be  seen,  I  suppose,  Rodney?" 
says  the  captain. 

"  Nothing,"  I  answered.  "  She  looks  well  up, 
and  that's  all  that  can  be  said." 

"  I've  been  hove  to  under  bare  poles  more  than 
once  in  my  time,"  said  the  carpenter,  "  but  never 
through  so  long  a  stretch.  I  doubt  if  you'll  find 
many  vessels  to  look  up  to  it  as  this  here 
Laughing  Mary  does." 

1  The  loss  of  hamper  forward  will  make  her  the 
more  weatherly,"  says  Captain  Rosy.  "  But  we're 
in  an  ugly  part  of  the  globe.  When  bad  sailors 
die  they're  sent  here,  I  reckon.  The  worst 
nautical  sinner  can't  be  hove  to  long  off  the  Horn 
without  coming  out  of  it  with  a  purged  soul.  He 
must  start  afresh  to  deserve  further  punishment." 

"Well,  here's  a  breeze  that  can't  go  on  blowing 
much  longer,"  cries  the  carpenter.  "  The  place 
it  comes  from  must  give  out  soon,  unless  a  new 
trade  wind's  got  fixed  into  a  whole  gale  for  this 
here  ocean." 

'  What  southing  do  you  allow  our  drift  will  be 
giving  us,  captain  ? "  I  asked,  munching  a  piece 
of  beef. 

"All  four  mile  an  hour,"  he  answered.  "If 
this  goes  on  I  shall  look  to  make  some  discoveries. 
The  Antarctic  circle  won't  be  far  off  presently, 
and  sincp  you're  a  scholar,  Rodney,  I'll  leave  you 
to  d^  j's  inside  of  it,  though  boi! 

don't  ha  iming  of  the  taliess 


it  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

see,  I've  a  mind  to  be  known  after  I'm  dead,  and 

there's  nothing  like  your  signature  on  a  mountain 
to  be  remembered  by." 

He  grinned  and  put  his  hand  out  for  the  bottle, 
and  after  a  pull  passed  it  to  the  carpenter.  I 
guessed  by  his  jocosity  that  he  had  already  been 
making  somewhat  free;  for  although  I  love  a 
bold  face  put  upon  a  difficulty,  ours  was  a  situation 
in  which  only  a  tipsy  man  could  find  food  for 
merriment. 

At  this  instant  we  were  startled  by  a  wild  and 
fearful  shout  on  deck.  It  sounded  high  above 
the  sweeping  and  seething  of  the  wind  and  the 
hissing  of  the  lashed  waters,  and  it  penetrated  the 
planks  with  a  note  that  gave  it  an  inexpressible 
character  of  anguish. 

"A  man  washed  overboard!"  bawled  the 
carpenter,  springing  to  his  feet. 

"  No  1 "  cried  I,  for  ray  younger  and  shrewder 
ear  had  caught  a  note  in  the  cry  that  persuaded 
me  it  was  not  as  the  carpenter  said ;  and  in  an 
instant  the  three  of  us  jumped  up  the  ladder  and 
gained  the  deck. 

The  moment  I  was  in  the  gale  the  same 
affrighted  cry  rang  down  along  the  wind  from 
some  man  forward :  "  For  Gotfs  sak*  tumbU  up 
before  we  are  upon  it  I" 

'What  do  you  see?"  I  roared,  sending  my 
voice,  trumpet-fashion,  through  my  hands;  for 
as  to  my  own  and  the  sight  of  Captain  Rosy  and 
the  carpenter,  why,  it  was  like  being  struck  blind 
to  come  on  a  sudden  out  of  the  lighted  cabin  into 
the  black  night. 


THE  ICEBERG.  13 

Any  reply  that  might  have  been  attempted  was 
choked  out  by  the  dive  of  the  brig's  head  into  a 
sea,  which  furiously  flooded  her  forecastle  and^came 
washing  aft  like  milk  in  the  darkness  till  it  was 
up  to  our  knees. 

"  See  there  1 "  suddenly  roared  the  carpenter. 

"  Where,  man,  where?"  bawled  the  captain. 

But  in  this  brief  time  my  sight  had  grown  used 
to  the  night,  and  I  saw  the  object  before  the 
carpenter  could  answer.  It  lay  on  our  lee  beam, 
but  how  far  off  no  man  coula  have  told  in  that 
black  thickness.  It  stood  against  the  darkness 
and  hung  out  a  dim  complexion  of  light,  or  rather 
of  pallidness,  that  was  not  lijght — not  to  be 
described  by  the  pen.  It  was  like  a  small  hill  of 
snow,  and  looked  as  snow  does  or  the  foam  of  the 
sea  in  darkness,  and  it  came  and  went  with  our 
soaring  and  sinking. 

"  Ice ! "  I  shouted  to  the  captain. 

"  I  see  it ! "  he  answered,  in  a  voice  that 
satisfied  me  the  consternation  he  was  under  had 
settled  the  fumes  of  the  spirits  out  of  his  head. 
"  We  must  drive  her  clear  at  all  risks." 

There  was  no  need  to  call  the  men.  To  the 
second  cry  that  had  been  raised  by  one  among 
them  who  had  come  out  of  the  forecastle  and  seen 
the  berg,  they  had  tumbled  up  as  sailors  will  when 
they  jump  for  their  lives ;  and  now  they  came 
staggering,  splashing,  crawling  aft  to  us,  for  the 
lamp  in  the  cabin  made  a  sheen  in  the  companion 
hatch,  and  they  could  see  us  as  we  stood  there. 

"Men,"  cried  Captain  Rosy,  "  yonder1  s  a 
gravestone  for  our  carcases  if  we  are  not  lively  1 


1 4  THE  FROZEN  PIXATI. 

Cast  the  helm   adrift ! "  (we  steered  by  *  tfller) 
'  Two  hands  stand  by  it.     Forward,  some  of  ye, 
and  loose  the  stay-foresail,  and  show  the  head  of 
it." 

The  fellows  hung  in  the  wind.  I  could  not 
wonder.  The  bowsprit  had  been  sprung  when  the 
jibboom  was  wrenched  from  the  cap  by  the  fall  of 
the  top-gallant-mast;  it  still  had  to  bear  the 
weight  of  the  heavy  spritsail  vard,  and  the  drag 
of  the  staysail  might  carry  tne  spar  overboard 
with  the  men  upon  it.  Yet  it  was  our  best  chance  ; 
the  one  sail  most  speedily  released  and  hoisted, 
the  one  that  would  pay  the  brig's  head  off 
quickest,  and  the  only  fragment  that  promised  to 
stand. 

"  Jump !  '  roared  the  captain,  in  a  passion  of 
hurry.  "  Great  thunder !  'tis  close  aboard  ! 
You'll  leave  me  no  sea  room  for  veering  if  you 
delay  an  instant." 

"  Follow  me  who  will !  "  I  cried  out ;  "  and 
others  stand  by  ready  to  hoist  away." 

Thus  speaking — for  there  seemed  to  my  mind 
a  surer  promise  of   death   in   hesitation   at   this 
supreme   moment  than    in  twenty  such    risk 
laying  out  on  the  bowsprit  signified — I  made  for 
the   lee   of    the   weather   bulwarks,    and    blindly 
hauled  myself  forward  by  such  pins  and  ge;r 
came  to   my  hands.     -A  man    might    spend 
life  on  the  ocean  and  never  have  to  deal  with 
a  passage  as  this.       It  was  not  the  bitter 
only,   though    perhaps  of   its   full    fierceness    th«° 
wildness  of  my  feelings  did  not  suffer   p 
sensible;   it  was  the  pouring  of  volumes  of  water 


THE  ICEBERG.  15 

upon  me  from  over  the  rail,  often  tumbling  upon 
my  head  with  such  weight  as  nearly  to  beat  the 
breath  out  of  my  body  and  sink  me  to  the  deck ; 
it  was  the  frenzy  excited  in  me  by  the  tremendous 
obligation  of  despatch  and  my  retardment  by  the 
washing  seas,  the  violent  motions  of  the  brig,  the 
encumbrance  of  gear  and  deck  furniture  adrift 
and  sweeping  here  and  there,  and  the  sense  that 
the  vessel  might  be  grinding  her  bows  against  the 
iceberg  before  I  should  be  able  to  reach  the 
bowsprit.  All  this  it  was  that  filled  me  with  a 
kind  of  madness,  by  the  sheer  force  of  which 
alone  I  was  enabled  to  reach  the  forecastle,  for 
had  I  gone  to  my  duty  coldly,  without  agitation 
of  spirits,  my  heart  must  have  failed  me  before 
I  had  measured  half  the  length  of  the  brig. 

I  got  on  to  the  bowsprit  nearly  stifled  by. the 
showering  of  the  seas,  holding  an  open  knife 
between  my  teeth,  half  dazed  by  the  prodigious 
motion  of  the  light  brig,  which,  at  this  extreme 
end  of  her,  was  to  be  felt  to  the  full  height  of  its 
extravagance.  At  every  plunge  I  expected  to  be 
buried,  and  every  moment  I  was  prepared  to  be 
torn  from  my  hold.  It  was  a  fearful  time ;  the 
falling  off  of  the  brig  into  the  trough — and  never 
was  I  in  a  hollower  and  more  swelling  sea — her 
falling  off,  I  say,  in  the  act  of  veering  might  end 
us  out  of  hand  by  the  rolling  of  a  surge  over  us 
big  enough  to  crush  the  vessel  down  fathoms 
out  of  sight ;  and  then  there  was  that  horrible 
heap  of  faint  whiteness  leaping  out  of  the  dense 
blackness  of  the  sky,  gathering  a  more  risible 
sharpness  of  outline  with  every  liquid  heare  that 


i$  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

forked  us  high  into  the  flying  night  with  shrieking 

rigging  and  boiling  decks. 

Commending  myself  to  God,  for  I  was  now  to 
let  go  with  my  hands,  I  pulled  the  knife  from  my 
teeth,  and  feeling  for  the  gaskets  or  lines  which 
bound  the  sail  to  the  spar,  I  cut  and  hacked  as 
fast  as  I  could  ply  my  arms.  In  a  flash  the  gale, 
whipping  into  a  liberated  fold  of  the  canvas,  blew 
the  whole  sail  out ;  the  bowsprit  reeled  and  qui- 
vered under  me ;  I  danced  off  it  with  incredible 
despatch,  shouting  to  the  men  to  hoist  away. 
The  head  of  the  staysail  mounted  in  thunder, 
and  the  slatting  of  its  folds  and  the  thrashing 
of  its  sheet  was  like  the  rattling  of  heavy  field- 
pieces  whisked  at  full  gallop  over  a  stony 
road. 

"  High  enough  1 "  I  bawled,  guessing  enough 
was  shown,  for  I  could  not  see.  "  Get  a  drag 
upon  the  sheet,  lads,  and  then  aft  with  you  for 
your  lives  ! " 

Scarce  had  I  let  forth  my  breath  in  this  cry 
when  I  heard  the  blast  as  of  a  gun,  and  knew  by 
that  the  sail  was  gone;  an  instant  after  wash 
came  a  mountainous  sea  sheer  over  the  weather 
bulwarks  fair  betwixt  the  fore  and  main  rigging ; 
but  happily,  standing  near  the  fore  shrouds,  I  was 
holding  on  with  both  hands  to  the  topsail 
halliards  whilst  calling  to  the  men,  so  that  being 
under  the  rail,  which  broke  the  blow  of  the  sea, 
and  holding  on  too,  no  mischief  befell  me,  only 
that  for  about  twenty  seconds  I  stood  in  a 
horrible  fury  and  smother  of  frothing  water, 
hearing  nothing,  seeing  nothing,  with  every 


Tn  Ionia.  if 


iecufcy  !•  «e  se  numbed  and  dufled  by 
wet,  cold,  and  horror  of  our  situation,  that  I  knew 
not  whether  in  that  space  of  time  I  was  in  the 
least  degree  sensible  of  what  had  happened  or 
what  might  befall 

The  water  leaving  the  deck,  I  rallied,  though 
half-drowned,  and  staggered  aft,  and  found  the 
helm  deserted,  nor  could  I  see  any  signs  of  my 
companions.  I  rushed  to  the  tiller,  and  putting 
my  whole  weight  and  force  to  it,  drove  it  up  to 
windward  and  secured  it  by  a  turn  of  its  own 
rope  ;  for  ice  or  no  ice  —  and  for  the  moment  I 
was  so  blinded  by  the  wet  that  I  could  not  see  the 
berg  —  my  madness  now  was  to  get  the  brig 
before  the  sea  and  out  of  the  trough,  advised  by 
every  instinct  in  me  that  such  another  surge  as 
that  which  had  rolled  over  her  must  send  her  to 
the  bottom  in  less  time  than  it  would  take  a  man 
to  cry  «  O  God  !  " 

A  figure  came  out  of  the  blackness  on  the  lee 
side  of  the  deck. 

"Who  is  that?1*  said  he.  It  was  Captain 
Rosy. 

I  answered. 

"  What,  Rodnev  I  alive  ?  "  cried  he.  *  I  think 
I  have  been  struct  insensible." 

Two  more  figures  came  crawling  aft.  Then 
two  more.  They  were  the  carpenter  and  three 
seamen. 

I  cried  put,  "  Who  was  at  the  helm  when  that 
sea  was  shipped  ?  ° 

A  man  answered,  "  Me,  Thomas  lebHng." 

"Where's    your    mate?"    I    ailed  |    M*    fc 


ll  Tn    FROtBB     PHUT*. 

seemed  to  me  that  I  was  the  only  man  who  had 
his  senses  full  just  then. 

"  He  was  washed  forward  along  with  me/'  he 
replied. 

Now  a  fifth  man  joined  us,  but  before  I  could 
question  him  as  to  the  others,  the  captain,  with  a 
scream  like  an  epileptic's  cry,  shrieked,  "  It's  all 
over  with  us  I  We  are  upon  it ! " 

I  looked  and  perceived  the  iceberg  to  be  within 
a  musket-shot,  whence  it  was  clear  that  it 
been  closer  to  us  when  first  sighted  than  the 
blackness  of  the  night  would  suffer  us  to  dis- 
tinguish. In  a  time  like  this  at  sea  events  throng 
so  fast  they  come  in  a  heap,  and  even  if  the 
intelligence  were  not  confounded  by  the  uproar 
and  peril,  if  indeed  it  were  as  placid  as  in  any  time 
of  perfect  security,  it  could  not  possibly  take  note 
of  one-tenth  that  happens. 

I  confess  that,  for  my  part,  I  was  very  nearly 
paralyzed  by  the    nearness  of   the  iceberg,  and 
by    the   cry   of   the    captain,    and    by   the   per- 
ception   that    there   was   nothing    to   be    d 
That  which  I  best  recollect  is  the  appeararu 
the  .mass  of  ice  lying  solidly,  like  a  little  is. 
upon  the  seas  which  roared  in  creaming  \\\ 
about  it.     Every  blow  of  the  black  and   an 
surge  was  reverberated  in  a  dull  hollow  trt 
back  to  the  ear  through  the  hissing  flight  of 
gale.     The  frozen  body  was  not  taller  than 
mastheads,  yet  it  showed  like  a  mountain  han 
over   us  as  the  brig  was  flung  swirling  < 
deep   Pacific   hollow,  leaving  us  staring  up; 
out  of  the   instant's  stagnation  of  the  trough 


THI  IcriEma.  if 

lips  set  breathlessly  and  with  dying  eyes,  it  put 
a  kind  of  film  of  faint  light  outside  the  lines  of  its 
own  shape,  and  this  served  to  magnify  it,  and  it 
showed  spectrally  in  the  darkness  as  though  it 
reflected  some  visionary  light  that  came  neither 
from  the  sea  nor  the  sky.  These  points  I  re- 
collect ;  likewise  the  maddening  and  maddened 
motion  of  our  vessel,  sliding  towards  it  down  one 
midnight  declivity  to  another. 

All  other  features  were  swallowed  up  in  the 
agony  of  the  time.  One  monstrous  swing  the 
brig  gave,  like  to  some  doomed  creature's  last 
delirious  struggle ;  the  bowsprit  caught  the  ice 
and  snapped  with  the  noise  of  a  great  tree 
crackling  in  fire.  I  could  hear  the  masts  breaking 
overhead — the  crash  and  blows  of  spars  and 
yards  torn  down  and  striking  the  hull ;  above  all 
the  grating  of  the  vessel,  that  was  now  head  on 
to  the  sea  and  swept  by  the  billows,  broadside  on, 
along  the  sharp  and  murderous  projections.  Two 
monster  seas  tumbled  over  the  bows,  floated  me 
off  my  legs,  and  dashed  me  against  the  tiller, 
to  which  I  clung.  I  heard  no  cries.  I  regained 
my  feet,  clinging  with  a  death-grip  to  the  tiller, 
and,  seeing  no  one  near  me,  tried  to  holloa,  to 
know  if  any  man  were  living,  but  could  not  make 
my  voice  sound. 

The  fearful  grating  noise  ceased  on  a  sudden, 
and  the  faintness  of  the  berg  loomed  upon  the 
starboard  bow.  We  had  been  hurled  clear  of  it 
and  were  to  leeward  ;  but  what  was  our  condi- 
tion ?  I  tried  to  shout  again,  but  to  no  purpose  ; 
and  was  in  the  act  of  quitting  the  tiller  to  go 


SO  THI  PKOZKN   PIRAT* 

forward  when  I  was  struck  over  the  browi  by 
something  from  aloft — a  block,  as  I  believe — and 
fell  senseless  upon  the  deck. 

CHAPTER  III. 

I   LOSS   MY  COMPANIONS. 

I  LAY  for  a  long  while  insensible;  and  that  I 
should  have  recovered  my  mind  instead  of  dying 
in  that  swoon  I  must  ever  account  as  the  greatest 
wonder  of  a  life  that  has  not  been  wanting  in  the 
marvellous.  I  had  no  sooner  sat  up  than  all  that 
had  happened  and  my  present  situation  instantly 
came  to  me.  My  hair  was  stiff  with  ice ;  there 
was  no  more  feeling  in  my  hands  than  had  they 
been  of  stone  ;  my  clothes  weighed  upon  me  like 
a  suit  of  armour,  so  inflexibly  hard  were  they 
frozen.  Yet  I  got  upon  my  legs,  and  found  that 
1  could  stand  and  walk,  and  that  life  flowed  warm 
in  my  veins,  for  all  that  I  had  been  lying  motion- 
less for  an  hour  or  more,  laved  by  water  that 
would  have  become  ice  had  it  been  still. 

It  was  intensely  dark  ;  the  binnacle  lamp  was 
extinguished,  and  the  light  in  the  cabin  burned 
too  dimly  to  throw  the  faintest  colour  upon  the 
hatchway.  One  thing  I  quickly  noticed,  that  the 
gale  had  broken  and  blew  no  more  than  a  fresh 
breeze.  The  sea  still  ran  very  high,  but  though 
every  surge  continued  to  hurl  its  head  of  snow, 
and  the  heavens  to  resemble  ink  from  contrast  with 
the  passage,  as  it  seemed,  close  under  them  of 
these  pallid  bodies,  there  was  less  spite  in  its 


I   fcOU  MY   COM* AXIOMS.  11 

wash,  less  fury  in  its  blow.  The  multitudinous 
roaring  of  the  heaving  blackness  had  sobered 
into  a  hard  and  sullen 'growling,  a  sound  as  of 
thunder  among  mountains  heard  in  a  valley. 

The  brig  pitched  and  rolled  heavily.  Much  of 
the  buoyancy  of  her  earlier  dance  was  gone  out 
of  her.  Nevertheless,  I  could  not  persuade 
myself  that  this  sluggishness  was  altogether  due 
to  the  water  she  had  taken  in.  It  was  wonderful, 
however,  that  she  should  still  be  afloat.  No  man 
could  have  heard  the  rending  and  grating  of  her 
side  against  the  ice  without  supposing  that  every 
plank  in  it  was  being  torn  out. 

Finding  that  I  had  the  use  of  my  voice,  I 
holloaed  as  loudly  as  I  could,  but  no  human  note 
responded.  Three  or  four  times  I  shouted,  giving 
some  of  the  people  their  names,  but  in  vain. 
Father  of  mercy  !  I  thought,  what  has  come  to 
pass  ?  Is  it  possible  that  all  my  companions 
have  been  washed  overboard  ?  Certainly,  five 
men  at  least  were  living  before  we  fouled  the  ice. 
And  again  I  cried  out,  "Is  there  any  one  alive?  " 
looking  wildly  along  the  black  decks,  and  putting 
so  much  force  into  my  voice  with  the  con- 
sternation that  the  thought  of  my  being  alone 
laised  in  me,  that  I  had  like  to  have  burst  a 
Dlood-vessel. 

My  loneliness  was  more  terrible  to  me  than  any 
other  condition  of  my  situation.  It  was  dreadful 
to  be  standing  d  with  cold,  in  utter 

darkness,  uj  ks  of  a  hull  wallow- 

ing  miserably  amid  the  black  hollows  and  eager 
foaming  peaks  of  the_  labouring  sea,  convinced 


22  TUB  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

that  she  was  slowiy  filling,  and  that  at  any 
moment  slu  might  go  ,down*with  me  ;  it  was 
dreadful,  I  say,  to  be  thus  placed,  and  to  feel  that 
I  was  in  the  heart  of  the  rudest,  most  desolate 
space  of  sea  in  the  world,  into  which  the  commerce 
of  the  earth  dispatched  but  few  ships  all  the  year 
round.  But  no  feature  of  my  lamentable  situation 
so  affrighted  me,  so  worked  upon  the  passions  of 
my  mind,  as  my  loneliness.  Oh,  for  one  com- 
panion, even  one  only,  to  make  me  an  echo  for 
mine  own  speech  !  Nay,  God  Himself,  the  merciful 
Father  of  all,  even  He  seemed  not !  The  black- 
ness lay  like  a  pall  upon  the  deep,  and  upon  my 
soul.  Misery  and  horror  were  within  that  shadow, 
and  beyond  it  nothing  that  ray  spirit  could  look 
up  to! 

I  stood  for  some  moments  as  one  stunned,  and 
then  my  manhood — trained  to  some  purpose  by 
the  usage  of  the  sea — reasserted  itself ;  and  may- 
be I  also  got  some  slender  comfort  from  observ- 
ing that,  dull  and  heavy  as  was  the  motion  of  the 
brig,  there  was  yet  the  buoyancy  of  vitality  in  her 
manner  of  mounting  the  seas,  and  that,  after  all, 
her  case  might  not  be  so  desperate  as  was 
threatened  by  the  way  in  which  she  had  been  torn 
and  precipitated  past  the  iceberg.  At  moments 
when  she  plunged  the  whiteness  of  the  water 
creaming  upon  the  surges  on  either  hand  threw 
out  a  phantom  light  of  sufficient  power  to  enable 
me  to  see  that  the  forward  part  of  the  brig  was 
littered  with  wreckage,  which  served  to  a  certain 
extent  as  a  br?rj/ water  by  preventing  the  seas, 
which  washed  on  to  the  forecastle,  from  cascading 


I  ju>st  MY  COMPANIONS.  a  3 

with  their  former  violence  aft ;  also  that  the  whole 
length  of  the  main  and  top  masts  lay  upon  the 
larboard  rail  and  over  the  side,  held  in  that 
position  by  the  gear  attached  to  them.  This  was 
all  that  I  could  distinguish,  and  of  this  only  the 
most  elusive  glimpse  was  to  be  had. 

Feeling  as  though  the  very  marrow  in  my  bones 
were  frozen,  I  crawled  to  the  companion  and,  pull- 
ing open  the  door,  descended.  '  The  lamp  in  the 
companion  burnt  faintly.  There  was  a  clock 
fixed  to  a  beam  over  the  table  ;  my  eyes  directly 
sought  it,  and  found  the  time  twenty  minutes 
after  ten.  This  signified  that  I  had  ten  or  eleven 
hours  of  darkness  before  me  ! 

I  took  down  the  lamp,  trimmed  it,  and  went  to 
the  lazarette  hatch  at  the  after  end  of  the 
cabin.  Here  were  kept  the  stores  for  the  crew. 
I  lifted  the  hatch  and  listened,  and  could  hear  the 
water  in  the  hold  gurgling  and  rushing  with  every 
lift  of  the  brig's  bows  ;  and  I  could  not  question 
from  the  volume  of  water  which  the  sound 
indicated  that  the  vessel  was  steadily  taking  it  in, 
but  not  rapidly.  I  swallowed  half  a  pannikin  of 
the  hollands  for  the  sake  of  the  warmth  and  life  of 
the  draught,  and  entering  my  cabin,  put  on  thick 
dry  stockings,  first  chafing  my  feet  till  I  felt  the 
blood  in  them  ;  and  I  then,  with  a  seaman's 
dispatch,  shifted  the  rest  of  my  apparel,  and  can- 
not express  how  greatly  I  was  comforted  by  the 
change,  though  the  jacket  and  trousers  I  put  on 
were  still  damp  with  the  soaking  of  previous  days. 
To  render  myself  as  waterproof  as  possible — for 
it  was  the  wet  clothes  against  the  skin  that  made 


24  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

the  cold  so  cruel — I  took  from  the  captain's  cabin 
a  stout  cloak  and  threw  it  over  me,  enveloping  my 
head,  which  I  had  cased  in  a  warm  fur  cap,  with 
the  hood  of  it ;  and  thus  equipped  I  lighted  a 
small  hanJ-lantern  that  was  used  on  dark  nights 
for  heaving  the  log,  that  is,  for  showing  how 
the  sand  runs  in  the  glass,  and  carried  it  on 
deck. 

The  lantern  made  the  scene  a  dead,  grave-like 
black  outside  its  little  circle  of  illumination; 
nevertheless  its  rays  suffered  me  to  guess  at  the 
picture  of  ruin  the  decks  offered.  The  main  mast 
was  snapped  three  or 'four  feet  above  the  deck, 
and  the  s:ump  of  it  showed  as  jagged  and  barbed 
as  a  wild  beast's  teeth.  But  I  now  noticed  that 
the  weight  of  the  hamper  being  on  the  lar- 
board side,  balanced  the  list  the  vessel  took 
from  her  shifted  ballast,  and  that  she  floated  on  a 
level  keel  with  her  bows  fair  at  the  sea,  whence  I 
concluded  that  a  sort  of  sea-anchor  had  been 
formed  ahead  of  her  by  the  wreckage,  and  that  it 
held  her  in  that  posture,  otherwise  she  must 
certainly  have  fallen  into  the  trough. 

I  moved  with  extreme  caution,  casting  the 
lantern  light  before  me,  sometimes  starting  at  a 
sound  that  resembled  a  groan,  then  stopping  to 
steady  myself  during  some  particular  wild  leap 
of  the  hull ;  until,  coming  abreast  of  the  main 
hatch,  the  rays'  of  the  lantern  struck  upon  a 
man's  body,  which,  on  my  bringing  the  flame  to 
his  face,  proved  to  be  Captain  Rosy.  There  was 
a  wound  over  his  right  brow ;  and  as  if  that  had 
not  sufficed  to  slay  him,  the  fail  of  the  masts  had. 


I    LOSJB    MY    COMfANIOMS, 

tn  some  wonderful  n  whipped  a'  rope 

several  times  r  binding  his  arms 

andy  encircling  his  tightly,  that  no 

executioner  could  !  ae  more  artistically  to 

work  to  pinion 

Under  a  mass  of  rigging  in  the  larboard 
scuppers  lay  two  bodies,  as  I  could  just  faintly 
discern;  it  was  impossible  to  put  the  lantern 
close  enough  to  either  one  of  them  to  distinguish 
his  face,  nor  had  I  the  strength  even  if  I  had  pos- 
sessed the  weapons  to  extricate  them,  for  they  lay 
under  a  whole  body  of  shrouds,  complicated  by  a 
mass  of  other  gear,  against  which  leaned  a  portion 
of  the  caboose.  I  viewed  them  long  enough  to 
satisfy  my  mind  that  they  were  dead,  and  then 
with  a  heart  of  lead  turned  away. 

I  crossed  to  the  starboard  side,  where  the  deck 
was  comparatively  clear,  and  found  the  body  of  a 
seaman  named  Abraham  V\  r  the  fore-hatch. 

This  man  had  probably  been  stunned  and  drowned 
by  the  sea  that  filled  the  deck  after  I  loosed  the 
staysail.  These  were  all  of  our  people  that  I  could 
find  ;  the  others  I  sup;  d  been  washed  by 

the  water  or  knocked  by  sparsoverboard. 

I  returned  to  the  quart*  and  sat  down 

in  the  companion  way  for  the  i;hdter  of  it  and  to 
think.  No  language  that  1  have  command  of 
could  put  before  you  trre  that  possessed 

me  as  I  sat  medii  /  situation  and 

recalling  the  faces  of  the  The  wind  was 

rapidly  falling,  and  wit;  but  the  motion 

of  the  brig  continue J  large  swell 

having  been  set  running  by  the  long,  fierce  gale 


a4  THB  FBOCBV  Poum 

that  wmt  gone;  and  there  being  no  uproar  of 
tempest  in  the  sky  to  confound  the  senses,  I 
could  hear  a  hundred  harsh  and  melancholy 
groaning  and  straining  sounds  rising  from  the 
hull,  with  now  and  again  a  mighty  blow  as  from 
some  spar  or  lump  of  ice  alongside,  weighty 
enough,  you  would  have  supposed,  to  stave  the 
ship.  But  though  the  Laughing  Mary  was  not 
a  new  vessel,  she  was  one  of  the  stoutest  of  her 
kind  ever  launched,  built  mainly  of  oak  and  put 
together  by  an  honest  artificer.  Nevertheless  her 
continuing  to  float  in  her  miserably  torn  and 
mangled  condition  was  so  great  a  miracle,  that, 
spite  of  my  poor  shipmates  having  perished  and 
my  own  state  being  as  hopeless  as  the  sky  was 
starless,  I  could  not  but  consider  that  God's 
hand  was  very  visible  in  this  business. 

I  will  not  pretend  to  remember  how  I  passed 
the  hours  till  the  dawn  came.  I  recollect  of 
frequently  stepping  below  to  lift  the  hatch  of  the 
lazarette,  to  judge  by  the  sound  of  the  quantity 
of  water  in  the  vessel.  That  she  was  filling  I 
knew  well,  yet  not  leaking  so  rapidly  but  that, 
had  our  crew  been  preserved,  we  might  easily 
have  kept  her  free,  and  made  shift  to  rig  up  jury 
masts  and  haul  us  as  best  we  could  out  of  these 
desolate  parallels.  There  was,  however,  nothing 
to  be  done  till  the  day  broke.  I  had  noticed  the 
jolly-boat  bottom  up  near  the  starboard  gangway, 
and  so  far  as  I  could  make  out  by  throwing  the 
dull  lantern  light  upon  her  she  was  sound ;  but 
I  could  not  have  launched  her  Without  seeing 
what  1  was  doing,  and  even  had  I  managed  this, 


I  QUIT  THI  WE»CK,  §7 

she  stood  to  be  swamped  and  !  to  be  drowned. 
And,  in  sober  truth,  so  horrible  was  the  prospect 
of  going  adrift  in  her  without  preparing  for  the 
adventure  with  oars,  sail,  mast,  provisions,  and 
water — most  of  which,  by  the  (amplight  only, 
were  not  to  be  come  at  amid  the  hideous  muddle 
of  wreckage — that  sooner  than  face  it  I  was 
perfectly  satisfied  to  take  my  chance  of  the  hulk 
sinking  with  me  in  her  before  the  sun  rose, 

CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  east  grew  pale  and  grey  at  last.  The  sea 
rolled  black  as  the  night  from  it,  with  a  rounded 
smooth-backed  swell ;  the  wind  was  spent ;  only 
a  small  air,  still  from  the  north-east,  stirred. 
There  were  a  few  stars  dying  out  in  the  dark 
west;  the  atmosphere  was  clear,  and  when  the 
sun  rose  I  knew  he  would  turn  the  sable  pall  over- 
head into  blueness. 

The  hull  lay  very  deep.  I  had  at  one  time, 
during  the  black  hours,  struck  into  a  mournful 
calculation,  and  reckoned  that  the  brie  would 
float  some  two  or  three  hours  after  sunrise ;  but 
when  the  glorious  beam  flashed  out  at  last,  and 
transformed  the  ashen  hue  of  dawn  into  a  cerulean 
brilliance  and  a  deep  of  rolling  sapphire,  I 
started  with  sudden  terror  to  observe  how  close 
the  covering-board  sat  upon  the  water,  and  how 
the  head  of  every  swell  ran  past  as  high  as  the 
bulwark  rail. 

Yet  for  a  few  moments  I  stood  contemplating 


a8 

the  scene  of  ruin.  It  was  visible  now  to  its  most 
trifling  detail,  The  foremast  was  gone  smooth 
off  at  the  deck ;  it  lay  over  the  starboard  bow ; 
and  the  topmast  floated  ahead  of  the  hull,  held  by 
the  gear.  Many  feet  of  bulwarks  were  crushed 
level ;  the  pumps  had  vanished ;  the  caboose 
was  gone !  A  completer  nautical  ruin  I  had 
never  viewed. 

One  extraordinary  stroke  1  quickly  detected. 
The  jolly-boat  had  lain  stowed  in  the  long-boat; 
it  was  thus  we  carried  those  boats,  the  little  one 
lying  snugly  enough  in  the  other.  The  sea  that 
had  flooded  our  decks 'had  floated  the  jolly-boat 
out  of  the  long-boat,  and  swept  it  bottom  up  to 
the  gangway  where  it  lay,  as  though  God's  mercy 
designed  it  should  be  preserved  for  my  use ;  for, 
not  long  after  it  had  been  floated  out,  the  brig 
struck  the  berg,  the  masts  fell — and  there  lay  the 
long-boat  crushed  into  staves  ! 

This  signal  and  surprising  intervention  filled  my 
heart  with  thankfulness,  though  my  spirits  sank 
again  at  the  sight  of  my  poor  drowned  shipmates. 
But,  unless  I  had  a  mind  to  join  them,  it  was 
necessary  I  should  speedily  bestir  myself.  So 
after  a  minute's  reflection  I  whipped  out  my 
knife,  and  cutting  a  couple  of  blocks  away  from 
the  raffle  on  deck,  I  rove  a  line  through  them,  and 
so  made  a  tackle,  by  the  help  of  which  I  turned 
the  jolly-boat  over :  I  then  with  a  handspike 
prised  her  nose  to  the  gangway,  secured  a  bunch 
of  rope  on  either  side  Her  to  act  as  fenders  or 
buffers  when  she  should  be  launched  and  lying 
alongside,  ran  her  midway  out  by  the  tackle,  ana, 


I  QUIT  THE  WRECK.  19 

attaching  a  line  to  a  ring-bolt  in  her  bow,  shoved 
her  over  the  side,  and  she  fell  with  a  splash, 
shipping  scarce  a  hatful  of  water. 

I  found  her  mast  and  sail — the  sail  furled  to  the 
mast,  as  it  was  used  to  lie  in  her — close  against 
the  stump  of  the  mainmast;  but  though  I  sought 
with  all  the  diligence  that"hurry  would  permit  for 
her  rudder,  I  nowhere  saw  it,  but  I  met  with  an 
oar  that  had  belonged  to  the  other  boat,  and  this 
with  the  mast  and  sail  I  dropped  into  her,  the 
swell  lifting  her  up  to  my  hand  when  the  blue 
fold  swung  past. 

My  next  business  was  to  victual  her.  I  ran  to 
the  cabin,  but  the  lazarette  was  full  of  water, 
and  none  of  the  provisions  in  it  to  be  come  at. 
I  thereupon  ransacked  the  cabin,  and  found  a 
whole  Dutch  cheese,  a  piece  of  raw  pork,  half  a 
ham,  eight  or  ten  biscuits,  some  candles,  a  tinder- 
box,  several  lemons,  a  little  bag  of  flower, 
and  thirteen  bottles  of  beer.  These  things  I 
rolled  up  in  a  cloth  and  placed  them  in  the 
boat,  then  took  from  the  captain's  locker  four 
jars  of  spirits,  two  of  which  I  emptied  that  I 
might  fill  them  with  fresh  water.  I  also  took 
with  me  from  the  captain's  cabin  a  small  boat 
compass. 

The  heavy,  sluggish,  sodden  movement  of  the 
hull  advised  me  to  make  haste.  She  was  now 
barely  lifting  to  the  swell  that  came  brimming  in 
broad  liquid  blue  brows  to  her  stem.  It  seemed 
as  though  another  ton  of  water  would  sink  her; 
and  if  the  swell  fell  over  her  bows  and  filled  the 
decks,  down  she  would  go.  I  had  a  small  parcel 


jo  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

of  guineas  in  my  chest,  and  was  about  to  fetch 
this  money,  when  a  sort  of  staggering  sensation 
in  the  upward  slide  of  the  hull  gave  me  a  fright, 
and,  watching  my  chance,  I  jumped  into  the  boat 
and  cast  the  line  that  held  her  adrift. 

The  sun  was  an  hour  above  the  horizon.  The 
sea  was  a  deep  blue,  heaving  very  slowly,  though 
you  felt  the  weight  of  the  mighty  ocean  in  every 
fold ;  and  eastwards,  the  shoulders  of  the  swell, 
catching  the  glorious  reflection  of  the  sun,  hurled 
the  splendour  along,  till  all  that  quarter  of  the  sea 
looked  to  be  a  mass  of  leaping  dazzle.  Upon  the 
eastern  sea-line  lay  a  range  of  white  clouds, 
compact  as  the  chalk  cliffs  of  Dover;  threads, 
crescents,  feather-shapes  of  vapour  of  the  daintiest 
sort,  shot  with  pearly  lustre,  floated  overhead  very 
high.  It  was  in  truth  a  fair  and  pleasant  morning 
— of  an  icy  coldness  indeed,  but  the  air  being  dry, 
its  shrewdness  was  endurable.  Yet  was  it  a 
brightness  to  fill  me  with  anguish  by  obliging 
me  to  reflect  how  it  would  have  been  with  us  had 
it  dawned  yesterday  instead  of  to-day.  My 
companions  would  have  been  alive,  and  yonder 
sinking  ruined  fabric  a  trim  ship  capable  of  bearing 
us  stoutly  into  warm  seas  and  to  our  homes  at  last. 
I  threw  the  oar  over  the  stern  of  the  boat  to 
keep  her  near  to  the  brig,  not  so  much  because  I 
desired  to  see  the  last  of  her,  as  because  of 
the  shrinking  of  my  soul  within  me  from  the 
thought  of  heading  in  my  loneliness  into  those 
prodigious  leagues  of  ocean  which  lay  stretched 
under  the  sky.  Whilst  the  hull  floated  she  was 
something  to  hold  on  to,  no  to  say,  *om«thing 


I    QUIT  THE    WRICK,  |1 

for  the  eye  amid  the  vastness  of  water  to  rest  upon, 
•omething  to  take  out  of  the  insufferable  feeling 
of  solitude  the  poisonous  sting  of  conviction. 

But  her  end  was  at  hand.  I  had  risen  to  step 
the  boat's  mast,  and  was  standing  and  grasping 
it  whilst  I  directed  a  slow  look  round  the  horizon 
in  God  knows  what  vain  hope  of  beholding  a  sail, 
when  my  eye  coming  to  the  brig,  I  observed  that 
she  was  sinking.  She  went  down  very  slowly  ; 
there  was  a  horrible  gurgling  sound  of  water 
rushing  into  her,  and  her  main  deck  blew  up  with 
a  loud  clap  or  blast  of  noise.  I  could  follow  the 
line  of  her  bulwarks  fluctuating  and  waving  in 
the  clear  dark  blue  when  she  was  some  feet 
under.  A  number  of  whirlpools  spun  round  over 
her,  but  the  slowness  of  her  foundering  was 
solemnly  marked  by  the  gradual  descent  of  the  ruins 
of  masts  and  yards  which  were  attached  to  the  hull 
by  their  rigging,  and  which  she  dragged  down 
with  her.  "On  a  sudden,  when  the  last  fragment  of 
mast  had  disappeared,  and  when  the  hollows  of  the 
whirlpools  were  flattening  to  the  level  surfac> 
the  sea,  up  rose  a  body,  with  a  sort  of  leap.  It 
was  the  sailor  that  had  lain  drowned  on  the 
starboard  side  of  the  forward  deck.  Being  frozen 
stiff  he  rose  in  the  posture  in  which  he  had 
expired,  that  is,  with  his  arms  extended  ;  so  that, 
when  he  jumped  to  the  surface,  he  came  with  his 
hands  lifted  up  to  heaven,  and  thus  he  stayed  a  min- 
ute, sustained  by  the  eddies  which  also  revolved  him, 

The  shock  occasioned  by  this  melancholy  object 
was  so  great,  it  came  near  to  causing  me  to  swoon. 
He  sank  when  the  water  ceased  to  twist  him, 


3§  THE  FROZBH  PIIAT*. 

and  I  was  unspeakingly  thankful  to  see  htm 
vanish,  for  his  posture  had  all  the  horror  of  a 
spectral  appeal,  and  such  was  the  state  of  my 
mind  that  imagination  might  quickly  have  worked 
the  apparition,  had  it  lingered,  into  an  instrument 
for  the  unsettling  of  my  reason. 

I  rose  from  the  seat  on  to  which  I  had  sunk  and 
loosed  the  sail,  and  hauling  the  sheet  aft,  put  the 
oar  over  the  stern,  and  brought  the  little  craft's 
head  to  an  easterly  course.  The  draught  of  air 
was  extremely  weak,  and  scarce  furnished  impulse 
enough  to  the  sail  to  raise  a  bubble  alongside. 
The  boat  was  about  fifteen  feet  long ;  she  would  be 
but  a  small  boat  for  summer  pleasuring  in  English 
July  lake-waters,  yet  here  was  I  in  her  in  the  heart 
of  a  vast  ocean,  many  leagues  south  and  west 
of  the  stormiest,  most  inhospitable  point  of  land 
in  the  world,  with  distances  before  me  almost 
infinite  for  such  a  boat  as  this  to  measure  ere  ] 
could  heave  a  civilized  coast  or  a  habitable  island 
into  view  1 

At  the  start  I  had  a  mind  to  steer  north-west 
and  blow,  as  the  wind  would  suffer,  into  the  South 
Sea,  where  perchance  I  might  meet  a  whaler  or  a 
Southseaman  from  New  Holland ;  but  my  heart 
sank  at  the  prospect  of  the  leagues  of  water  which 
rolled  between  me  and  the  islands  and  the  western 
American  seaboard.  Indeed  I  understood  that 
my  only  hope  of  deliverance  lay  in  being  pi 
up  ;  and  that,  though  by  heading  east  I  should  be 
clinging  to  the  stormy  parts,  I  was  more  likely  to 
meet  with  a  ship  hereabouts  tjian  by  sailing  into 
the  great  desolation  of  the  north- west.  The 


I  QOIT  TIII 

^PW 

burden  of  my  loneliness  weighed  down  upon  me 
so  crushingly  that  I  cannot  but  consider  my 
senses  must  have  been  somewhat  dulled  by 
suffering,  for  had  they  been  active  to  their  old 
accustomed  height,  I  am  persuaded  my  heart 
must  have  broken  and  that  1  should  have  died  of 
grief. 

Faintly  as  the  wind  blew,  it  speedily  wafted  me 
out  of  sight  of  the  floating  relics  of  the  wreck, 
and  then  all  was  bare,  bald,  swelling  sea  and 
empearled  sky,  darkening  in  lagoons  of  azure 
down  to  the  soft  mountainous  masses  of  white 
vapour  lying  like  the  coast  of  a  continent  on  the 
larboard  horizon.  But  one  living  thing  there  was 
besides  myself:  a  grey-breasted  albatross,  of  a 
princely  width  of  pinion.  I  had  not  observed  it 
till  the  hull  went  down,  and  then,  lifting  my  eyes 
with  involuntary  sympathy  in  the  direction  pointed 
to  by  the  upraised  arms  of  the  sailor,  I  observed 
the  great  royal  bird  hanging  like  a  shape  of 
marble  directly  over  the  frothing  eddies.  It  was 
as  though  the  spirit  of  the  deep  had  taken  form 
in  the  substance  of  the  noblest  of  all  the  fowls  of 
its  dominions,  and, ;  poised  on  tremorless  wings, 
was  surveying  with  .the  cold  curiosity  of  an 
intelligence  empty  of  human  emotion  the 
destruction  of  one  of  those  fabrics  whose  unequal 
contests  and  repeated  triumphs  had  provoked  its 
haughty  surprise.  The  bird  quitted  the  spot  of 
the  wreck  after  a  while  and  followed  me.  Its  eyes 
had  the  sparkling  blood-red  gleam  of  rubies.  It 
was  as  silent  as  a  phantom,  and  with  arched  neck 
and  motionless  plunks  seemed  to  watch  me  with 


34  Tm  FROZEN  Pi  HAT*. 

arnestness  that  presently  grew  insufferable. 
So  far  from  finding  any  comfort  of  companion- 
ship in  the  creature,  methought  if  it  did  not 
speeuily  break  from  the  motionless  posture  in 
which  it  rested  on  its  seat  of  air,  and  remove  its 
piercing  gaze,  it  would  end  in  crazing  me.  I  felt 
a  sudden  rage,  and,  jumping  up,  shouted  and 
shook  my  fist  at  it.  This  frightened  the  thing. 
It  uttered  a  strange  salt  cry — the  very  note  of  a 
gust  of  v.ind  splitting  upon  a  rope — flapped  its 
wings,  and  after  a  turn  or  two  sailed  away  into  the 
-north. 

I  watched  it  till  its  figure  melted  into  the  bl 
atmosphere,  and    then  sank  trembling  into 
sternsheets  of  the  boat. 

CHAPTER  V. 

I   SIGHT  A  WHITR  COAST. 

FOUR  days  did  I  pass  in  that  little  open  boat,  f.^ 
The  first  day  was  fine  till  sunset ;  it  then  blew 
fresh  from  the  north-west,  and  I  was  obliged  to 
keep  the  boat  before  the  wind.  The  next  day  was 
dark  and  turbulent,  with  heavy  falls  of  snow  And  a 
high  swell  from  the  north,  and  the  wind  af  small 
gale.  On  the  third  dav  the  sun  shone,  and  it  was 
a  fair  day,  but  horribly  cold,  and  1  saw  two 
icebergs  like  clouds  upon  the  far  western  sea- 
line.  There  followed  a  cruel  night  of  clouded 
skies,  sleet,  and  snow,  and  a  very  troubled  sea ; 
and  then  broke  the  fourth  day,  as  softly  brilliant 
as  an  English  May  day,  but  cold — great  God, 
how  cold  1 


I  SIGHT  A  WHITB  COAST.  35 

Thus  might  I  epitomize  this  passage;  and  I  do 
so  to  spare  you  the  weariness  of  a  relation  of 
uneventful  suffering. 

In  those  four  days  I  mainly  ran  before  the 
wind,  and  in  this  way  drove  many  leagues  south, 
though  whenever  a  chance  offered  I  hauled  my 
sheet  for  the  east  I  know  not,  I  am  sure,  how 
r  the  boat  lived.  I  might  pretend  it  was  due  to  my 
clever  management — I  do  not  say  I  had  no  share 
in  my  own  preservation,  but  to  God  belongs  all 
the  praise. 

In  the  blackness  of  the  first  night  the  sea 
boiled  all  about  me.  The  boat  leapt  into 
hollows  in  which  the  sail  slapped  the  mast.  One 
look  behind  me  at  the  high  dark  curl  of  the 
oncoming  surge  had  so  affrighted  me  that  I 
never  durst  turn  my  head  again  lest  the  sight 
should  deprive  me  of  the  nerve  to  hold  the  oar 
with  which  I  steered.  I  sat  as  squarely  as  the 
task  of  steering  would  suffer,  trusting  that  if  a  sea 
should  tumble  over  the  stern  my  back  would  serve 
as  a  breakwater,  and  save  the  boat  from  being 
\vamped.  The  whole  sail  was  on  her,  and  I  could 
not  help  myself ;  for  it  would  have  been  certain 
death-  to  quit  the  steering  oar  for  an  instant.  It 
was  this  that  saved  me,  perhaps ;  for  the 
boat  blew  along  with  such  prodigious  speed, 
running  to  the  height  of  a  sea  as  though  she 
meant  to  dart  from  that  eminence  into  the  air, 
that  the  slope  of  each  following  surge  swung  like 
a  pendulum  under  her,  and  though  her  sail  was 
becalmed  in  the  trough  so 

great  that  she  was  speeding  up  the  ac 


36  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

catching    the  whole  weight   of   the  wind  afresh 
before  there  was  time  for  her  to  lose  way. 

I  was  nearly  dead  with  cold  and  misery  when 
the  morning  came,  but  the  sparkling  sun  and  the 
blue  sky  cheered  me,  and  as  wind  and  sea  fell 
with  the  soaring  of  the  orb,  I  was  enabled  to 
flatten  aft  the  sheet  and  let  the  boat  steer  herself 
whilst  I  beat  my  arms  about  for  warmth  and  broke 
my  fast.  When  I  look  back  I  wonder  that  I 
should  have  taken  any  pains  to  live.  That  it  is  4 
possible  for  the  human  mind  at  any  period  of  its 
existence  to  be  absolutely  hopeless  I  do  not 
believe ;  but  I  can  very  honestly  say  that  when  I 
gazed  round  upon  the  enormous  sea  I  was  in,  and 
considered  the  size  of  my  boat,  the  quantity  of 
my  provisions,  and  my  distance  (even  if  I  was 
heading  that  way)  from  the  nearest  point  of  land, 
I  was  not  sensible  of  the  faintest  stirring  of  hope, 
and  viewed  myself  as  a  dead  man. 

No  bird  came  near  me.  Once  I  spied  the  back 
of  a  great  black  fish  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off. 
The  wetness  of  it  caught  the  sunshine  and  re- 
flected it  like  a  mirror  of  polished  steel,  and  the 
flash  was  so  brilliant  it  might  have  passed  foi  a 
bed  of  white  fire  floating  on  the  blue  heavings. 
But  nothing  more  that  was  living  did  I  meet,  and 
such  was  the  vastness  of  the  sea  over  which  my 
little  keel  glided,  in  the  midst  of  which  I  sat 
abandoned  by  the  angels,  that  for  utter  loneliness 
I  might  have  been  the  very  last  of  the  human  race. 

When  the  third  night  came  down  with  sullen 
blasts  sweeping  into  a  steady  storming  of  wind, 
that  swung  a  strong  melancholy  howl  through. 


I  fiGirr  A  WHITI  COAST,  37 

the  gloom,  it  found  me  so  weak  with  cold,  watch- 
ing, and  anxiety,  and  the  want  of  space  wherein 
to  rid  my  limbs  of  the  painful  cramp  which 
weighted  them  with  an  insupportable  leaden  sen- 
sation, that  I  had  barely  power  to  control  the  boat 
with  the  oar.  I  pined  for  sleep ;  one  hour  oi 
slumber  would,  I  felt,  give  me  new  life,  but  1 
durst  not  close  my  eyes.  The  boat  was  sweep- 
ing through  the  dark  and  seething  seas,  and  her 
course  had  to  be  that  of  an  arrow,  or  she  would 
capsize  and  be  smothered  in  a  breath. 

Maybe  I  fell  something  delirious,  for  I  had 
many  strange  and  frightful  fancies.  Indeed  I 
doubt  not  it  was  the  spirit  of  madness — that  is 
certainly  tonical  when  small — which  furnished 
strength  enough  to  my  arm  to  steer  with.  It  was 
like  the  action  of  a  powerful  cordial  in  my  blood, 
and  the  very  horrors  it  fed  my  brain  with  were  an 
animation  to  my  physical  qualities.  The  gale 
became  a  voice ;  it  cried  out  my  name,  and  every 
shout  of  it  past  my  ear  had  the  sound  of  the  word 
Despair!'  I  witnessed  the  forms  of  huge 
phantoms  flying  over  the  boat ;  I  watched  the 
beating  of  their  giant  wings  of  shadow  and  heard 
the  thunder  of  their  laughter  as  they  fled  ahead, 
leaving  scores  of  like  monstrous  shapes  to  follow. 
There  was  a  faint  lightning  of  phosphor  in  the 
creaming  heads  of  the  ebon  surges,  and  my  sick 
imagination  twisted  that  pallid  complexion  into 
the  dim  reflection  of  the  lamps  of  illuminated 
pavilions  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea ;  mystic  palaces 
of  green  marble,  radiant  cities  in  the  measureless 
kingdoms  of  the  ocean  gods.  I  had  a  fancy  of  roofa 


$1  TMB  FROZKN  PtiAm 

oi  pearl  below,  tun  te  coral,  pave- 

ments of  rainbow  lu  shootings  and 

dartingsof  the  hues  of  shells  inclined  and  trembled 
to  the  sun.  I  thought  I  could  behold  the  move- 
ments of  shapes  as  indeterminable  as  the  forms 
which  swarm  in  dreams,  human  brows  crowned 
with  gold,  the  cold  round  emerald  eyes  of  fish, 
the  creamy  breasts  of  women,  large  outlines 
slowly  floating  upwards,  making  a  deeper  black- 
ness upon  the  blackness  like  the  dye  of  the 
electric  storm  upon  the  velvet  bosom  oi  midnight. 
Often  would  I  shrink  from  side  to  side,  starting 
from  a  fancied  apparition  leaping  into  terrible 
being  out  of  some  hurling  block  of  liquid  ob- 
scurity. 

Once  a  light  shone  upon  the  masthead.  At 
any  other  time  I  should  ha*ve  known  this  to  be  a 
St.  Elmo's  fire,  a  corposant,  the  ignis  fatuus  of 
the  deep,  and  nailed  it  with  a  seaman's  faith  in 
its  promise  of  gentle  weather.  But  to  my  dis- 
tempered fancy  it  was  a  lanthorn  hung  up  by  i 
spirit  hand  ;  I  traced  the  dusky  curve  of  an  arm 
and  observed  the  busy  twitching  of  visionary 
fingers  by  the  rays  of  the  ghostly  light ;  the  out- 
line of  a  large  face  of  a  blanrl  and  sorrowful 
expression,  pallid  as  any  foam-flake  whirling  past, 
came  into  the  sphere  of  those  graveyard  rays.  I 
shrieked  and  shut  my  eyes,  and  when  I  looked 
again  the  light  was  gone. 

Long  before  daybreak  I  was  exhausted.  Mer- 
cifully, the  wind  was  scant ;  the  stars  shone  very 
gloriously ;  on  high  sparkled  the  Cross  of  the 
southern  world.  A  benign  influence  seemed  to 


I  SIGHT  A  WHITI  COAST.  39 

steal  into  me  out  of  its  silver  shining ;  the  craze 
fell  from  me,  and  I  wept. 

Shortly  afterwards,  worn  out  by  three  days  and 
nights  of  suffering,  I  fell  into  a  deep  sleep,  and 
when  I  awoke  my  eyes  opened  'right  upon  the 
blinding  sun. 

This  was  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day.  I 
was  without  a  watch.  By  the  height  of  the  sun  I 
reckoned  the  hour  to  be  ten.  I  threw  a  languid 
glance  at  the  compass  and  found  the  boat's  head 
pointing  north-west ;  she  fell  off  and  came  to, 
being  without  governance,  and  was  scarcely  sail- 
ing therefore.  The  wind  was  west,  a  very  light 
breeze,  just  enough  to  put  a  bright  twinkling  into 
the  long,  smooth  folds  of  the  wide  and  weighty 
swell  that  was  rolling  up  from  the  north-east.  I 
tried  to  stand,  but  was  so  benumbed  that  man) 
minutes  passed  before  I  had  the  use  of  my  legs. 
Brightly  as  the  sun  shone  there  was  no  moie 
warmth  in  his  light  than  you  find  in  a  moon- 
beam on  a  frosty  night,  and  the  bite  in  the  air 
was  like  the  pang  of  ice  itself  pressed  against  the 
cheek.  My  right  hand  suffered  most;  I  had 
fallen  asleep  clasping  the  loom  of  the  steering 
oar,  and  when  I  awoke  my  fingers  still  gripped  it, 
so  that,  on  withdrawing  them,  they  remained 
curved  like  talons,  and  I  believed  I  had  lost  their 
use,  and  even  reckoned  they  would  snap  off  and 
so  set  up  a  mortification,  till  by  much  diligent 
robbing  I  grew  sensible  of  a  small  glow  which, 
increasing,  ended  in  rendering  the  joints  supple, 

I  stood  up  to  lake  a  view  of  the  horizon,  aa4 
life  first  sight  that  met  my  *yt  forced  a  cty  IMS*. 


4O  THE  FROTEW  PIRATH. 

me.  Extending  the  whole  length  of  the  south- 
west seaboard  lay  what  I  took  to  be  a  line  oi 
white  coast  melting  at  either  extremity  into  the 
blue  airy  distance.  Even  at  the  low  elevation  of 
the  boat  my  eye  seemed  to  measure  thirty  miles 
of  it.  It  was  not  white  as  chalk  is ;  there  was 
something  of  a  crystalline  complexion  upon  the 
face  of  its  solidity.  It  was  too  far  off  to  enable 
me  to  remark  its  outline;  yet  on  straining  my 
sight — the  atmosphere  being  very  exquisitely 
clear — I  thought  I  could  distinguish  the  projec- 
tions of  peaks,  of  rounded  slopes,  and  aerial 
angularities  in  places  which,  in  the  refractive  lens 
of  the  air,  looked,  with  their  hue  of  glassy  azure, 
like  the  loom  of  high  land  behind  the  coastal 
line. 

The  notion  that  it  was  ice  came  into  my  head 
after  the  first  prospect  of  it ;  and  then  I  returned 
to  my  earlier  belief  that  it  was  land.  Methought 
if  it  were  ice,  it  must  be  the  borderland  of  the 
Antarctic  circle,  the  limits  of  the  unfrozen  ocean, 
for  it  was  incredible  that  so  mighty  a  body  could 
signify  less  than  the  capes  and  terraces  of  a  con- 
tinent of  ice  glazing  the  circumference  of  the  pole 
for  leagues  and  leagues ;  but  then  I  also  knew 
that,  though  first  the  brig  and  then  my  boat  had 
been  for  days  steadily  blown  south,  I  was  still  to 
the  north  of  the  South  Shetland  parallels,  and 
many  degrees  therefore  removed  from  the  polar 
bamer.  Hence  I  concluded  that  what  I  saw  wai 
land,  and  that  the  peculiar  crystal  shining  of  it  wai 
caused  by  the  snow  that  covered  it. 

But  what  land?     Some  large  island  that  had 


1  SIGHT  A  WHITE  COAST.  41 

been  missed  by  the  explorers  and  left  uncharted  ? 
I  put  a  picture  of  the  map  of  this  part  of  the 
world  before  my  mind's  eye,  and  fell  to  an  earnest 
consideration  of  it,  but  could  recollect  of  no  land 
hereabouts,  unless  indeed  we  had  been  wildly 
wrong  in  our  reckoning  aboard  the  brig,  and  I  in 
the  boat  had  been  driven  four  or  five  times  the 
distance  I  had  calculated — things  not  to  be  enter- 
tained. 

Yet  even  as  a  mere  break  in  the  frightful  and 
enduring  continuity  of  the  sea-line — even  as  some- 
thing that  was  not  sea  nor  sky  nor  the  cold  silent 
and  mocking  illusion  of  clouds — it  took  a  cha- 
racter of  blessedness  in  my  eyes  ;  my  gaze  hung 
upon  it  joyously,  and  my  heart  swelled  with  a  new 
impulse  of  life  in  my  breast.  It  would  be  strange, 
I  thought,  if  on  approaching  it  something  to 
promise  me  deliverance  from  this  dreadful  situa- 
tion did  not  offer  itself — some  whaler  or  trader  at 
anchor,  signs  of  habitation  and  of  the  presence  of 
men,  nay,  even  a  single  hut  to  serve  as  a  refuge 
from  the  pitiless  cold, 'the  stormy  waters,  the 
black,  lonely,  delirious  watches  of  the  night,  till 
help  should  heave  into  view  with  the  white  canvas 
of  a  ship. 

I  put  the  boat's  head  before  the  wind,  and 
steered  with  one  hand  whilst  I  got  some  breakfast 
with  the  other.  I  thanked  God  for  the  brightness 
of  the  day  and  for  the  sight  of  that  strange  white 
line  of  land,  that  went  in  glimmering  blobs  of 
faintness  to  the  trembling  horizon  where  the 
southern  end  of  it  died  out.  The  swell  rose  full 
.  and  brimming  ahead,  rolling  in  sapphire  hills  out 


41  Tut  FROZEN  FIRATI. 

of  the  northeast,  as  I  have  said,  whence  I  inferred 
that  that  extremity  of  the  land  did  not  extend  very 
much  further  than  I  could  see  it,  otherwise  there 
could  not  have  been  so  much  weight  of  water  as  I 
found  in  the  heaving. 

The  breeze  blew  lightly  and  was  the  weaker  for  • 
my  running  before  it ;  but  the  little  line  of  froth 
that  slipped  past  either  side  the  boat  gave  me  to 
know  that  the  speed  would  not  be  less  than  four 
miles  in  the  hour ;  and  as  I  reckoned  the  land  to 
be  but  a  few  leagues  distant,  I  calculated  upon 
being  ashore  some  little  while  before  sundown. 

In  this  way  two  hours  passed.  By  this  time 
the  features  of  the  coast  were  tolerably  distinct. 
Yet  I  was  puzzled.  There  was  a  peculiar  sheen 
all  about  the  irregular  sky-line  ;  a  kind  of  pearly 
whitening,  as  it  were,  of  the  heavens  beyond,  like 
to  the  effect  produced  by  the  rising  of  a  very 
delicate  soft  mist  melting  from  a  mountain's  brow 
into  the  air.  This  dismayed  me.  Still  I  cried  to 
myself,  '  It  must  be  land  !  All  that  whiteness  is 
snow,  and  the  luminous  tinge  above  it  is  the  re- 
flection of  the  glaring  sunshine  thrown  upwards 
from  the  dazzle.  It  cannot  be  ice  I  'tis  too  mighty 
a  barrier.  Surely  no  single  iceberg  ever  reached 
to  the  prodigious  proportions  of  that  coast.  And 
it  cannot  be  an  assemblage  of  bergs,  for  there  is 
no  break — it  is  leagues  of  solid  conformation. 
Oh  yes,  it  is  land,  sure  enough  !  some  island  whose 
tops  and  seaboard  are  covered  with  snow.  But 
what  of  that?  It  may  be  populated  all  the  same. 
Are  the  northern  kingdoms  of  Europe  bare  of  life 
because  of  the  winter  rigours  ? '  And  then 


Aw  ISLAVD  or  Id.  41 


thought  to  myself,  if  that  island  have  natives,  I 
would  rather  encounter  them  as  the  savages  of 
an  icebound  country  than  as  the  inhabitants  of  a 
land  of  sunshine  and  spices  and  radiant  vegeta- 
tion  ;  for  it  is  the  denizens  of  the  most  gloriously 
fair  ocean  seats  in  the  world  who  are  man-eaters ; 
not  the  Patagonian,  giant  though  he  be,  nor  the 
blubber-fed  anatomies  of  the  ice-climes. 

Thus  1  sought  to  reassure  and  comfort  myself. 
Meanwhile  my  boat  sailed  quietly  along,  running 
up  and  down  the  smooth  and  foamless  hills  ol 
water  very  buoyantly,  and  the  sun  slided  into  the 
north-west  sky  and  darted  a  reddening  beam  upoa 
the  coast  towards  which  I  steered. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

AN   ISLAND  OP    1C*. 

I  HAD  to  approach  the  coast  within  two  miles 
before  I  could  satisfy  my  mind  of  its  nature,  and 
then  all  doubt  left  me. 

It  was  ice  I  a  mighty  crescent  of  it— *s  was  now 
in  a  measure  gatherable,  floating  upon  the  dark 
blue  waters  like  the  new  moon  upon  the  field  of 
the  sky. 

For  a  great  while  I  had  struggled  with  my 
misgivings,  so  tyrannically  will  hope  lord  it  even 
over  conviction  itself,  until  it  was  impossible  for 
me  to  any  longer  mistake.  And  then,  when  I 
knew  it  to  be  ice,  I  asked  myself  what  other  thing 
I  expected  it  should  prove,  seeing  that  this  ocean 
had  been  plentifully  navigated  since  Cook's  time 
and  no  land  discovered  where  I  was  ;  aad  I 


*4  TIIF  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

myself  a  fool  and  cursed  the  hope  that  had  cheated 
me,  and,  in  short,  gave  way  to  a  violent  outburst 
of  passion,  and  was  indeed  so  wild  with  grief  and 
rage  that,  had  my  ecstasy  been  but  a  very  little 
greater,  I  must  have  jumped  overboard,  so  great 
was  my  loathing  of  life  then,  and  the  horror  the 
sight  of  the  ice  filled  me  with. 

Indeed,  you  cannot  conceive  how  shocking  to 
me  was  the  appearance  of  that  great  gleaming 
length  of  white  desolation.  On  the  deck  of  a 
stout  ship  sailing  safely  past  it  I  should  have 
found  the  scene  magnificent,  I  doubt  not ;  for  the 
sun,  being  low  with  westering,  shone  redly,  and  the 
range  of  ice  stood  in  a  kind  of  gold  atmosphere 
which  gave  an  extraordinary  richness  to  the 
shadowings  of  its  rocks  and  peaks,  and  a 
particular  fullness  of  mellow  whiteness  to  its 
lustrous  parts,  softening  the  dazzle  into  an 
airy  tenderness  of  brightness,  so  that  the  whole 
mass  shone  out  with  the  blandness  visible  in  a 
glorious  star.  But  its  main  beauty  lay  in  those 
features  by  which  I  knew  it  to  be  ice — I  mean  in  a 
vast  surprising  variety  of  forms,  such  as  steeples, 
towers,  columns,  pyramids,  ruins  as  it  might  be  of 
temples,  grotesque  shapes  as  of  mighty  statues, 
left  unfinished  by  the  hands  of  Titans,  domes  as 
of  cathedrals,  castellated  heights,  fragments  of 
ramparts,  and  the  like.  These  features  lay  in 
groups,  as  if  veritably  the  line  of  coast  were 
dotted  with  gatherings  of  royal  mansions  and 
remains  of  imperial  magnificence,  all  of  white 
marble,  yet  with  a  glassy  tincture  as  though  the 
material  owned  something  of  a  Parian  quality. 


AM    ISLAND  OF  ICE.  45 

I  had  to  come  within  two  miles,  as  I  have  said, 
before  these  elegancies  broke  upon  me,  so 
deceptively  did  their  delicacy  of  outlines  mingle 
with  the  dark  blue  softness  beyond.  In  places  the 
coast  ran  up  to  a  height  of  two  or  three  hundred 
feet,  in  others  it  sloped  down  to  twenty  feet.  For 
some  miles  it  was  like  the  face  of  a  cliff,  a  sheer 
abrupt,  with  scarce  a  scar  upon  its  front,  staring 
with  a  wild  bald  look  over  the  frosty  beautiful  blue 
of  that  afternoon  sea.  Here  and  there  it  projected 
a  forefoot,  some  white  and  massive  rock,  upon  which 
the  swell  of  the  ocean  burst  in  thunder,  and  flew  to 
almost  the  height  of  the  cliff  in  a  very  great  and 
glorious  fury  of  foam.  In  other  parts,  where  I  sus- 
pected a  sort  of  beach,  there  was  the  silver  tremble 
of  surf ;  but  in  the  main,  the  heave  coming  out  of 
the  north-east,  the  folds  swept  the  base  of  the  ice 
without  froth. 

I  say  again,  beheld  in  the  red  sunshine,  that 
line  of  ice,  resembling  a  coast  of  marble  defining 
the  liquid  junction  of  the  swelling  folds  of  sapphire 
below  and  the  moist  violet  of  the  eastern  sky 
beyond  and  over  it,  crowned  at  points  with  delicate 
imitations  of  princely  habitations,  would  have 
offered  a  noble  and  magnificent  spectacle  to  a 
mind  at  ease  ;  but  to  my  eyes  its  enchantments 
were  killed  by  the  horror  I  felt.  It  was  a  lonely, 
hideous  waste,  rendered  the  more  shocking  by  the 
consideration  that  the  whole  vast  range  was 
formed  of  blocks  of  frozen  water  which  warmth 
would  dissolve  ;  that  it  was  a  country  as  solid  as 
rock  and  as  unsubstantial  as  a  cloud,  to  be 
shunned  by  the  mariner  as  though  it  w&i  Death's 


4*  THE  FIIOZEN  PIKATM. 

own  pavilion,  the  estate  and  mansion  of  the  grisly 
spectre,  and  creating  round  about  it  as  supreme  a 
desolation  and  loneliness  of  ocean  as  that  which 
reigned  in  its  own  white  stillness. 

Though  I  held  the. boat's  head  for  it  I  was  at  a 
-in  so  much  confusion  of  mind  that  1  knew 
not  what  to  do.  I  did  not  doubt  by  the  character 
o!  the  swell  that  its  limits  in  the  north-east 
extended  only  to  the  sensible  horizon  ;  in  other 
words,  that  its  extremity  there  would  not  be  above 
five  miles  distant,  though  to  what  latitude  its 
southern  arm  did  curve  was  not  to  be  conjectured. 

Should  I  steer  north  and  seek  to  go  clear  of  it  ? 

^Somehow,  the  presence  of  this  similitude  of  land 

made  the  sea  appear  as  enormous  as  space  itself. 

Whilst  it  was  all  clear  horizon  the  immensity  of 

the  deep  was  in  a  measure  limited  to  the  vision  by 

its    cincture.      But    this   ice-line   gave    the 

something  to  measure  with,  and  when  I  looked  at 

those  leagues  of  frozen  shore  my  spirits  sank  into 

est  dejection  at  the  thought  of  the  vastness 

of  the  waters  in  whose  heart  I  floated  in  my  little 

However,  I  resolved  at  last  to  land  if  landing 
was  possible.  I  could  stretch  my  limbs,  recruit 
myself  by  exercise,  and  might  even  make  shift  to 
obtain  a  night's  rest.  I  stood  in  desperate  need 
of  sleep,  but  there  was  no  repose  to  be  had  in  the 
boat.  I  durst  not  lie  down  in  her;  if  nature 
overcame  \ne  and  I  fell  asleep  in  a  sitting  posture, 
I  might  wake  to  find  the  boat  capsized  and  myself 
drowning,  This  consideration  resolved  me,  and 
by  this  tune  being  within  half  a  mile  of  tbe  coast, 


AM  ISLAND  OF  Ic».  47 

ran  my  eye  carefully  along  it  to  observe  a 
safe  nook  for  my  boat  to  enter  and  myself  to 
land  in. 

Though  for  a  great  distance,  as  I  have  said,  the 
front  of  the  cliff,  and  where  it  was  highest  too, 
was  a  sheer  fall,  coming  like  the  side  of  a  house 
to  the  water,  that  part  of  the  island  towards  which 
my  boat's  head  was  pointed  sloped  down  and 
continued  in  a  low  shore,  with  hummocks  of  ice 
upon  it  at  irregular  intervals,  to  where  it  died  out 
in  the  north-east.  I  now  saw  that  this  part  had 
a  broken  ^appearance  as  if  it  had  been  violently 
rent  from  a  mainland  of  ice  ;  also,  to  my  approach, 
many  ledges  projecting  into  the  sea  stole  into 
view.  There  were  ravines  and  gorges,  and  almost 
on  a  line  with  the  boat's  head  was  an  assemblage 
of  those  delicate  glass-like  counterfeits  of  spires, 
towers,  and  the  like,  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
standing  just  beyond  a  brow  whose  declivity  fell 
very  easily  to  the  water. 

To  make  you  see  the  picture  as  I  have  it  in 
my  mind  would  be  beyond  my  art ;  it  is  not  in  the 
pen — not  in  the  brush  either,  I  should  think 
convey  even  a  tolerable  portraiture  of  the  rugged- 
ness,  the  fairy  grouping,  the  shelves,  hollows, 
crags,  terraces,  precipices,  and  beach  of  this 
kingdom  of  ice,  where  its  frontal  line  broke  away 
from  the  smooth  face  of  the  tall  n  md  ran 

with  a  ploughed,  scarred,  and  serrated  countenance 
northwards. 

Very  happily  I  had  insensibly  steered  for 
perhaps  the  safest  spot  that  I  could  have  lighted 
on  ;  this  was  formed  of  a  large  projection  of  rock, 


48  THB  FROZBN  PIRATB. 

standing  aslant,  so  that  the  swell  rolled  part  it 
without  breaking.  The  rock  made  a  sort  of  core, 
towards  which  I  sailed  in  full  confidence  that 
the  water  there  would  be  smooth.  Nor  was  I 
deceived,  for  I  saw  that  the  rock  acted  as  a 
breakwater,  whose  stilling  influence  was  felt  a 
good  way  beyond  it.  I  thereupon  steered  for  the 
starboard  of  this  rock,  and  when  I  was  within  it 
found  the  heave  of  the  sea  dwindled  to  a  scarce 
perceptible  undulation,  whereupon  I  lowered  my 
sail,  and,  standing  to  the  oar,  sculled  the  boat  to 
a  low  lump  of  ice,  on  to  which  I  stepped. 

My  first  business  was  to  secure  the  boat ;  this 
I  did  by  inserting  the  mast  into  a  deep,  thin 
crevice  in  the  ice  and  making  the  painter  fast  to 
it  as  to  a  pole.  The  sun  was  now  very  low,  and 
would  soon  be  gone.  The  cold  was  extreme,  yet 
I  did  not  suffer  from  it  as  in  the  boat.  There  is  a 
quality  in  snow  which  it  would  be  ridiculous  to 
speak  of  as  warmth ;  yet,  as  you  may  observe 
after  a  heavy  fall  ashore  on  top  of  a  black  frost, 
it  seems  to  have  a  power  of  blunting  the  sharp 
edge  of  the  cold,  and  the  snow  on  this  shore  of 
ice  being  very  abundant,  though  frozen  as  hard  as 
the  ice  itself,  appeared  to  mitigate  the  intolerable 
rigour  I  had  languished  under  upon  the  water,  in 
the  brig  and  afterwards.  This  might  also  be  owing 
to  the  dryness  of  the  cold. 

Having  secured  the  boat  I  beat  my  hands  heartily 
upon  my  breast,  and  fell  to  pacing  a  little  level  of 
ice  whilst  I  considered  what  I  should  do.  The  coast 
— I  cannot  but  speak  of  this  frozen  territory  as 
went  in  a  gentle  slope  behind  me  to  the 


AN    1  BLAND   OF    lot.  49 

height  of  about  thirty  feet;  the  ground  was 
greatly  broken  with  rocks  and  boulders  and  sharp 
points,  whence  I  suspected  many  fissures  in  which 
the  snow  might  not  be  so  hard  but  that  I  might  sink 
deep  enough  to  be  smothered.  I  saw  no  cave 
nor  hollow  that  I  could  make  a  bedroom  of,  and 
the  improved  circulation  of  my  blood  giving  me 
spirits  enough  to  resolve  quickly,  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  use  my  boat  as  a  bed. 

So  I  went  to  work.     I  took  the  oar  and  jammed 

it  into  such  another  crevice  as  the  mast  stood  in, 

and  to   it  I  secured   the    boat    by  another   line. 

This    moored    her   very   safely.     There    was    as 

good    promise  of  a  fair    quiet  night  as  I    might 

count  upon    in  these  treacherous  latitudes  ;    the 

haven  in  which  the  boat  lay  was  sheltered  and  the 

water  almost  still,  and  this   I  reckoned  xvould  hold 

whilst   the  breeze  hung  northerly  and  the    swell 

rolled  from  the  north-east.     I  spread  the  sail  over 

the  seats,  which  served  as  beams  for  the  support 

of  this  little  ceiling  of  canvas,  and  enough  of  it 

remained  to  supply  me  with  a  pillow  and  to  cover 

my  legs.      I    fell  '  to  this  work  whilst  there  was 

light,  and  when  1  had  prepared  my  habitation,  I 

took  a  bottle    of  ale  and    a  handful  ^  of  victuals 

ashore  and    made    my   supper,   walking    briskly 

whilst  I  ate  and  drank. 

1  caught  myself  sometimes  looking  yearningly 
towards  the  brow  of  the  slope,  as   though 
that  eminence  I  should  gain  an  extensive  prospect 
of    the    sea    and   perhaps    behold   a  ship  ;  but 
wanted   the  courage  to  climb,  chiefly    because    I 
was  afraid  of  tumbling  into  a  hole  and  miserably 


fB  T«B  Fmozi*  PIRATE 

perishing,  and  likewise  because  I  shrank  from  the 
idea  of  being  overtaken  up  there  by  the  darkness. 
There  was  a  kind  of  companionship  in  the  boat, 
the  support  of  which  I  should  lose  if  I  left  her. 

The  going  of  the  lun  was  attended  by  so  much 
glory  that  the  whole  weight  of  my  situation  and 
the  pressure  of  vny  solitude  did  not  come  upon  me 
until  his  li^ht  was  gone.  The  swell  ran  athwart 
his  mirroring  in  hnes  of  molten  gold ;  the  sky 
was  a  sheet  of  fire  where  he  was,  paling 

tenithwards  into  an  ardent  orange.  The  splen- 
dour tipped  the  frozen  coast  with  points  of  ruby 
flame  which  sparkled  and  throbbed  like  sentinel 
beacons  along  the  while  and  silent  range.  The 
low  thunder  of  far-off  hills  of  water  bursting 
against  the  projections  rolled  sulkily  down  upon 
the  weak  v  Just  beyond  the  edge  of  the 

slope,  about  a  third  of  a  mile  to  the  north  of  my 
little  haven,  stood  an  assemblage   of  exquisitely 
miry   outlines— -configurations    such    as    I     have 
described  ;  their  crystalline  nature  stole    out  to 
the  lustrous  colouring  of  the  glowing  west,  and 
they  had  the  appearance  of  tinted  glass  of  several 
the  delicate  fibres  being  deep  of  hue, 
•  icr  ones  pale;  and  never  did  the  highest 
a  of  human  invention  reach  to  anything  more 

and  dainty,  more  sweetly  simulativ 
the  arts  of  a   fairy-like  imagination  than  yonder 
cluster  of  icy   fabrics,  fashioned,  as  it  entered  my 

to  conceive,  as  pavilions  by  the  hands  o 
spirits  of  the  frozen  world,  and  gilt  and  paintt 
the  bt:an>s  of  the  setting  sun. 

But  ail  this  wild  and  unreal  beauty  melted  away 


AM  ISLAND  or  IOL  f  i 

to  the  oncoming  of  the  dusk;  and  wtmi  tk*  ran 

was  gone  and  the  twilight  had  put  a  n«w  quality 
of  bleakness  into  the  air,  when  the  tea  rolled  in  m 
welter  of  dark  shadows,  one  tombre  foW  shoulder- 
ing  another — a  very  swarm  ing  &i  restless  giant 
phantoms^r-when  the  shining  of  th«  stars  low 
down  in  the  unfathomable  obscurity  of  the  north 
and  south  quarters  £ave  to  the  ocean  in  those 
directions  a  frightful  immensity  of  surface,  making 
you  feel  as  though  you  viewed  th«  scene  from  the 
centre  of  the  firmament,  and  were  gazing  dowa 
the  spangled  slopes  of  infinity — oh,  tkt*  it  w*» 
that  the  full  spirit  of  the  solitude,  of  this  pale  and 
silent  seat  of  ice  took  possession  of  me.  I  found 
a  meining  I  had  not  before  caught  in  the  com- 
plainfng  murmur  of  tiie  night  breeie  blowing  m 
small  gusts  along  the  rocky  shore,  and  in  the  deep 
orgar  like  tremulous  hum  of  the  swell  thundering 
mile?  distant  on  the  northward-pointing  cliffs. 
This  •  7as  a  note  I  had  missed  whilst  the  sun  shone. 
Perhtps  my  senses  were  sharpened  bv  the  dark- 
ness. It  mingled  with  the  booming  of  the  bursts 
of  w;  ter  on  this  side  the  range,  and  gave  me  to 
know  that  the  northward  extremity  of  the  island 
did  r  ot  extend  so  far  as  I  had  supposed  from  my 
view  of  it  in  the  boat  Yet  I  could  also  suppose 
that  the  beat  of  the  swell  formed  a  mighty 
cannonading  capable  of  making  itself  heard  afar, 
and  the-  ice,  being  resonant,  with  many  smooth  if 
not  polished  tracts  upon  it,  readily  transmitted  th« 
sound,  ves,  though  the  cause  of  it  lay  as  far  off  as 
the  horizon. 

I  will  not  say  that  my  loneliness  frightened  •*, 


52  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

but  it  subdued  my  heart  with  a  weight  as  if  It 
were  something  sensible,  and  filled  me  with  a  sort 
of  consternation  that  was  full  of  awe.  The  moon 
was  up,  but  the  rocks  hid  the  side  of  the  sea  she 
rode  over,  and  her  face  was  not  to  be  viewed  from 
where  I  was  until  she  had  marched  twe-thirds  of 
her  path  to  the  meridian.  The  coast  ran  away 
on  either  hand  in  cold  motionless  blocks  of  pallor> 
which  further  on  fell  (by  deception  of  the  sheen 
of  the  stars)  into  a  kind  of  twisting  and  snaking 
glimmer,  and  you  followed  it  into  an  extraordin- 
arily elusive  faintness  that  was  neither  light  nor 
colour  in  the  liquid  gloom,  long  after  the  sight 
had  outrun  the  visibility  of  the  range.  At 
intervals  I  was  startled  by  sounds,  sometimes 
sullen,  like  a  muffled  subterranean  explosion, 
sometimes  sharp,  like  a  quick  splintering  of  an 
iron-hard  substance.  These  noises,  I  presently 
gathered,  were  made  by  the  ice  stretching  and 
cracking  in  fifty  different  directions.  The  mass 
was  so  vast  and  substantial  you  could  not  but 
think  of  it  as  a  country  with  its  foot  resting  upon 
the  bed  of  the  sea.  T was  a  folly  of  my  nerves 
no  doubt,  yet  it  added  to  my  consternation  to 
reflect  that  this  solid  territory,  reverberating  the 
repelled  blows  of  the  ocean  swell,  was  as  much 
afloat  as  my  boat,  and  so  much  less  actual  than 
my  boat  that,  could  it  be  towed  a  few  degrees 
further  north,  it  would  melt  into  pouring  waters 
and  vanish  as  utterly  with  its  little  cities  of 
columns,  steeples,  and  minarets  as  a  wreath  of 
steam  upon  the  air. 

This  gave  a  spirit-like  character  to  it  in  my  dis- 


AN  ISLAND  OF  Id.  53 

mayed  inquiring  eyes  which  was  greatly  increased 
by  the  vagueness  it  took  from  the  dusk.  It  was 
such  a  scene,  methought,  as  the  souls  of  seamen 
drowned  in  these  seas  might  flock  to  and  haunt. 
The  white  and  icy  spell  upon  it  wrought  in  familiar 
things.  The  stars  looking  down  upon  me  over  the 
edge  of  the  cliffs  were  like  the  eyes  of  shapes 
(easy  to  fashion  out  of  the  darkness)  kneeling  up 
there  and  peering  at  the  human  intruder  who  was 
pacing  his  narrow  floor  of  ice  for  warmth.  The 
deceit  of  the  shadows  proportioned  the  blanched 
ruggedness  of  the  cliff's  face  on  the  north  side  into 
heads  and  bodies  of  monsters.  I  beheld  a  giant, 
from  his  waist  up,  leaning  his  cheek  upon  his  arm  ; 
a  great  cross  with  a  burlesque  figure,  as  of  a  friar, 
kneeling  near  it ;  a  mighty  helmet  with  a  white 
plume  curled;  the  shadowy  conformation  of  a 
huge  couchant  beast,  with  a  hundred  other  such 
unsubstantial  prodigies.  Had  the  moon  shone  in 
the  west  I  dare  say  I  should  have  witnessed  a 
score  more  such  things,  for  the  snow  was  like 
white  paper,  on  which  the  clear  black  shadows  of 
the  ice-rocks  could  not  but  have  cast  the  likeness 
of  many  startling  phantasies. 

I  sought  to  calm  my  mind  by  considering  my 
position,  and  to  divert  my  thoughts  from  the  star- 
wrought  apparitions  of  the  broken  slopes  I  asked 
myself  what  should  be  my  plans,  what  my  chance 
for  delivering  myself  from  this  unparalleled  situ- 
ation. At  this  distance  of  time  I  cannot  precisely 
tell  how  long  the  provisions  I  had  brought  from 
the  foundered  brig  were  calculated  to  last  me, 
but  I  am  sure  I  had  not  a  week's  supply, 


54  Tm  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

then,  made  it  plain  that  my  business  was  not  to 
linger  here,  but  to  push  into  the  ocean  afresh  as 
speedily  as  possible,  for  to  my  mind  nothing  in 
life  was  clearer  than  that  my  only  chance  lay  in 
my  falling  in  with  a  ship.  .Yet  how  did  my  heart 
sink  when  1  reflected  upon  the  mighty  breast  of 
sea  in  which  I  was  forlornly  to  seek  for  succour ! 
My  eyes  went  to  the  squab  black  outline  of  the 
boat,  and  the  littleness  of  her  sent  a  shudder 
through  me.  It  is  true  she  had  nobly  carried  me 
through  some  fierce  weather,  yet  at  the  expense 
of  many  leagues  of  southing,  of  a  deeper  pene- 
tration into  the  solitary  wilds  of  the  polar  waters. 
However,  I  was  sensible  that  I  was  depressed, 
melancholy,  and  under  a  continued  consternation, 
something  of  which  the  morning  sun  might  dis- 
sipate, so  that  I  should  be  able  to  take  a  heartier 
view  of  my  woful  plight.  So  after  a  good  look 
seawards  and  at  the  heavens  to  satisfy  myself  on 
the  subject  of  the  weather,  and  after  a  careful  in- 
spection of  the  moorings  of  the  boat,  I  entered 
her,  feeling  very  sure  that,  if  a  sea  set  in  from  the 
west  or  south  and  tumbled  her,  the  motion  would 
quickly  arouse  me ;  and  getting  under  the  roof 
of  sail,  with  my  legs  along  the  bottom  and  my 
back  against  the  stem,  which  I  had  bolstered 
with  the  slack  of  the  canvas,  I  commended 
myself  to  God,  folded  my  arms,  and  went  to  sleep. 

CHAPTER    VII. 

1    AM    STARTLED    HV    A    DISCOVERY. 

IN  this  uneasy  posture,  despite  the  intense  coW,  I 


I    AM   tTAHTLED   BY   A    DISCOVERY.  55 

continued  to  sleep  soundly  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  night.  I  was  awakened  by  a  horrid 
dream  of  some  giant  shape  stalking  down  the 
slope  of  ice  to  seize  and  devour  me,  and  sat  up 
trembling  with  horror  that  was  not  a  little 
increased  by  my  inability  to  recollect  myself,  and 
by  my  therefore  conceiving  the  canvas  that 
covered  me  to  be  the  groping  of  the  ogre's  hand 
over  my  face. 

I  pushed  the  sail  away  and  stood  up,  but  had 
instantly  to  sit  again,  my  legs  being  terribly 
cramped.  A  drink  of  spirits  helped  me;  my 
blood  presently  flowed  with  briskness. 

The  moon  was  in  the  west ;  she  hung  large, 
red,  and  distorted,  and  shed  no  light  save  her 
reflection  that  waved  in  the  sea  under  her  like 
several  lengths  of  undulating  red-hot  wire.  My 
haven  was  still  very  tranquil — the  boat  lay  calm ; 
but  there  was  a  deeper  tone  in  the  booming  sound 
of  the  distant  surf,  and  a  more  menacing  note  in 
the  echoing  of  the  blows  of  the  swell  along  this 
side  of  the  coast,  whence  I  concluded  that,  despite 
the  fairness  of  the  weather,  the  heave  of  the  deep 
had,  whilst  I  slept,  gathered  a  greater  weight, 
which  might  signify  stormy  winds  not  very  many 
leagues  away. 

The  pale  stare  of  the  heights  of  ice  at  that  red 
and  shapeless  disc  was  shocking.  "  Oh,"  I  cried 
aloud,  as  I  had  once  cried  before,  "  but  for  one, 
even  but  for  one,  companion  to  speak  to !  " 

I  had  no  mind  to  lie  down  again.  The  cold 
indeed  was  cruelly  sharp,  and  the  smoke  sped 
from  my  mouth  with  every  breath  as  though  I  held 


56  THE  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

a  tobacco  pipe  betwixt  my  teeth.     I  got  upon  the 

ice  and  stepped  about  it  quickly,  darting  searching 
glances  into  the  gloom  to  left  and  right  of  the 
setting  moon;  but  all  lay  bare,  bleak,  and  black. 
I  pulled  off  my  stout  gloves  with  the  hope  of 
getting  my  fingers  to  tingle  by  handling  the  snow ; 
but  it  was  frozen  so  hard  I  could  not  scrape  up 
with  my  nails  as  much  as  a  half-dozen  of  flakes 
would  make.  What  I  got  I  dissolved  in  my 
mouth  and  found  it  brackish  ;  however,  I  suspected 
it  would  be  sweeter  and  perhaps  not  so  stonily 
frozen  higher  up,  where  there  was  less  chance  of 
the  salt  spray  mingling  with  it,  and  I  resolved 
when  the  light  came  to  fill  my  empty  beer-bottles 
as  with  salt  or  pounded  sugar  for  use  hereafter — 
that  is,  if  it  should  prove  sweet ;  as  to  melting  it, 
I  had  indeed  a  tinder-box  and  the  means  of 
obtaining  fire,  but  no  fuel. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  night  had  only  just  descended, 
so  tardy  was  the  dawn.  Outside  the  slanting  wall 
of  ice  that  made  my  haven  the  swell  swept  past 
in  a  gurgling,  bubbling,  drowning  sound,  dismal, 
and  ghastly,  as  though  in  truth  some  such  ogre 
as  the  monster  I  had  dreamt  of  lay  suffocating 
there.  I  welcomed  the  cold  colouring  of  the  east 
as  if  it  had  been  a  ship,  and  watched  the  stars 
dying  and  the  frozen  shore  darkening  to  the  dim 
and  sifting  dawn  behind  it,  against  which  the 
Me  of  the  cliffs  ran  in  a  broken  streak  of  ink. 
rising  of  the  sun  gave  me  fresh  life.  Tru 
Hashed  out  of  its  slatish  hi.  i  radiant  w! 

the  ocean  changed  into  a  rich  nlue  that  see ; 
as  violet   under  the  paler  azure  of  the  heavens ; 


I  AM  STARTLED  BY  A  DISCOVERY.      57 

but  I  could  now  see  that  the  swell  was  heavier 
than  I  had  suspected  from  the  echo  of  Its-femote 
roaring  in  the  north.  It  ran  steadily  out  of  the 
north-east.  This  was  miserable  to  see,  for  the 
line  of  its  running  was  directly  my  course,  and  if 
I  committed  myself  to  it  in  that  little  boat,  the 
impulse  of  the  long  and  swinging  folds  could  not 
but  set  me  steadily  southwards,  unless  a  breeze 
sprang  up  in  that  quarter  to  blow  me  towards 
the  sun.  There  was  a  small  current  of  air 
stirring,  a  mere  trickle  of  wind  from  the  north- 
west. 

I  made  up  my  mind  to  climb  as  high  as  I  could, 
taking  the  oar  with  me  to  serve  as  a  pole,  that  I 
might  view  the  ice  and  the  ocean  round  about 
and  form  a  judgment  of  the  weather  by  the  aspect 
of  the  sky,  of  which,  only  the  western  part  was 
visible  from  my  low  strand.  But  first  1  must 
break  my  fast.  I  remember  bitterly  lamenting 
the  lack  of  means  to  make  a  fire,  that  I  might 
obtain  a  warm  meal  and  a  hot  drink  and  dry  my 
gloves,  coat,  and  breeches,  to  which  the  damp 
of  the  salt  clung  tenaciously.  Had  this  ice  been 
land,  though  the  most  desolate,  gloomy,  repulsive 
spot  in  the  world,  I  had  surely  found  something 
that  would  bum. 

I  sat  in  the  boat  to  eat,  and  whilst  thus 
occupied  pondered  over  this  great  field  of  ice, 
and  wondered  how  so  mighty  .a  berg  should  travel 
in  such  compacted  bulk  so  far  north — that  is,  so 
far  north  from  the  seat  of  its  creation.  Now 
leisurely  and  curiously  observing  it,  it  seemed  to 
me  that  the  north  part  of  it,  from  much  about  the 


§8  THI  FROWN  Pnum 

spot  where  my  boat  lay,  was  formed  of  a  chain  of 
icebergs  knitted  one  to  another  in  a  consolidated 
range  of  irregular  low  steeps.  The  beautiful 
appearances  of  spires,  towers,  and  the  like  seemed 
as  if  they  had  been  formed  by  an  upheaval,  as  of 
an  earthquake,  of  splinters  and  bodies  of  the 
frozen  stuff ;  for,  so  tar  as  it  was  possible  for  me 
to  see  from  the  low  shore,  wherever  these  radiant 
and  lovely  figures  were  assembled  I  noticed  great 
rents,  spacious  chasms,  narrow  and  tortuous 
ravines.  Certain  appearances,  however,  caused 
me  to  suspect  that  this  island  was  steadily 
decaying,  and  that,  large  as  it  still  was,  it  had 
been  many  times  raster  when  it  broke  away  from 
the  continent  about  the  Pole.  Naturally,  as  it 
progressed  northwards  it  would  dissolve,  and  the 
cracking  and  thunderous  noises  I  had  heard  in 
the  night,  sounds  very  audible  now  when  I  gave 
them  my  attention — sometimes  a  hollow  distant 
rumbling  as  of  some  great  body  dislodged  and 
set  rolling  far  off,  sometimes  an  inwards  roaring 
crack  or  blast  of  noise  like  the  report  of  a  cannon 
fired  deep  down — advised  me  that  the  work  of 
dissolution  was  perpetually  progressing,  and  that 
this  prodigious  island  whicn  appeared  to  barricade 
the  horizon  might  in  a  few  months  be  dwindled 
into  half  a  score  of  rapidly  dissolving  bergs. 

My  slender  repast  ended,  I  pulled  the  oar  out 
of  the  crevice,  and  found  it  would  make  me  a 
good  pole  to  probe  my  way  with  and  support 
mysell  by  up  the  slope.  The  boat  was  now  held 
by  the  mast,  which  I  shook  and  found  very  firm. 
I  put  an  empty  beer- bottle  in  my  pocket,  meaning 


I    AM   STAXTUED   BY   A   DlSCOVttY.  ff 

to  see  if  I  could  fill  it,  if  the  snow  above  was 
sweet  enough  to  be  well-tasted,  and  then  with  a 
final  look  at  the  boat  I  started. 

The  slope  was  extremely  craggy.  Blocks  of 
ice  lay  about,  some  on  top  of  the  others,  like  the 
stones  of  which  the  pyramids  are  built ;  the  white 
glare  of  the  snow  caused  these  stones  at  a  little 
distance  to  appear  flat — that  is,  by  merging  them 
into  and  blending  them  with  the  soft  brilliance 
of  the  background;  and  I  had  sometimes  to 
warily  walk  fifty  or  sixty  paces  round  these 
blocks  to  com*  at  a  part  of  the  slope  that  was 
smooth. 

I  speedily  found,  however,  that  there  was  no 
danger  of  my  being  buried  by  stepping  into  a 
hollow  full  of  snow ;  for  the  same  hardness  was 
everywhere,  the  snow,  whether  one  or  twenty  feet 
deep,  offering  as  solid  a  surface  as  the  bare  ice. 
This  encouraged  me  to  step  out,  and  I  began  to 
move  with  some  spirit ;  the  exercise  was  as  good 
as  a  fire,  and  before  I  was  half-way  up  I  was  as 
warm  as  ever  I  had  been  in  my  life. 

1  had  come  to  a  stand  to  fetch  a  breath,  and 
was  moving  on  afresh,  when,  having  taken  not 
half  a  dozen  steps,  I  spied  the  figure  of  a  man. 
He  was  in  a  sitting  posture,  his  back  against  a 
rock  that  had  concealed  him.  His  head  was 
bowed,  and  his  knees  drawn  up  to  a  level  with  his 
chin,  and  his  naked  hands  were  clasped  upon  his 
legs.  His  attitude  was  that  of  a  person  lost  in 
thought,  very  easy  and  calm. 

I  stopped  as  if  1  had  been  shot  through  tfce 
heart  Had  it  been  a  bear,  or  a  sea-lion,  or  aay 


60 "  THE  FROZEN  PIRATM. 

creature  which  my  mind  could  instantly  have 
associated  with  this  wfiite  and  stirless  desolation, 
I  might  have  been  startled  indeed ;  but  no  such 
amazement  could  have  possessed  me  as  I  now 
felt.  It  never  entered  into  my  head  to  doubt  that 
he  was  alive,  so  natural  was  his  attitude,  as  of  one 
lost  in  a  mood  of  tender  melancholy. 

I  stood  staring  at  him,  myself  motionless,  for 
some  minutes,  too  greatly  astonished  and 
thunderstruck  to  note  more  than  that  he  was  a 
man.  Then  I  looked  about  me  to  see  if  he  had 
companions  or  for  some  signs  of  a  habitation,  but 
the  ice  was  everywhere  naked.  I  fixed  my  eyes 
on  him  again.  His  hair  was  above  a  foot  long, 
black  as  ink,  and  the  blacker  maybe  for  the 
contrast  of  the  snow.  His  beard  and  mustachios, 
which  were  also  of  this  raven  hue,  fell  to  his  girdle. 
He  wore  a  great  yellow  flapping  hat,  such  as  was 
in  fashion  among  the  Spaniards  and  buccaneers 
of  the  South  Sea ;  but  over  his  ears,  for  the* 
warmth  of  the  protection,  were  squares  of  flannel, 
secured  by  a  very  fine  red  silk  handkerchief 
knotted  under  his  beard,  and  this,  with  his  hair 
and  pale  cheeks  and  black  shaggy  eyebrows, 
gave  him  a  terrible  and  ghastly  appearance.  From 
his  shoulders  hung  a  rich  thick  cloak  lined  with 
red,  and  the  legs  to  the  height  of  the  knees 
were  encased  in  large  boots. 

I  continued  surveying  him  with  my  heart  beating 
fast.  Every  instant  I  expected  to  see  him  turn 
his  head  and  start  to  behold  me.  My  emotions 
were  too  tumultuous  to  analyze,  yet  I  believe  I 
was  more  frightened  than  gladdened  by  the  sight 


1  AM  STARTLED  BY  A  DlSCOVBKY.     4f 

of  a  fellow-creature,  though  not  long  before  I  had 
sighed  bitterly  for  some  one  to  speak  to.  I 
looked  around  again,  prepared  to  find  another  one 
like  him  taking  stock  of  me  from  behind  a  rock, 
and  then  ventured  to  approach  him  by  a  few  steps 
the  better  to  see  him.  He  had  certainly  a 
frightful  face.  It  was  not  only  the  length  of  his 
coal-black  hair  and  beard ;  it  was  the  hue  of  his 
skin,  a  greenish  ashen  colour,  an  unspeakably 
hideous  complexion,  sharpened  on  the  one  hand 
by  the  red  handkerchief  over  his  ears  and  on 
the  other  by  the  dazzle  of  the  snow.  Then, 
again,  there  was  the  extreme  strangeness  of  his 
costume. 

I  coughed  loudly,  holding  my  pole  in  readiness 
for  whatever  might  befall,  but  he  did  not  stir ;  I 
then  holloaed,  and  was  answered  by  the  echoes  of 
my  own  voice  among  the  rocks.  His  stillness 
persuaded  me  he  was  in  one  of  those  deep  slum- 
bers which  fall  upon  a  man  in  frozen  places,  for  I 
could  not  persuade  myself  he  was  dead,  so  living 
was  his  posture. 

This  will  not  do,  thought  I ;  so  I  went  close  to 
him  and  peered  into  his  face. 

His  eyes  were  fixed ;  they  resembled  glass 
painted  as  eyes,  the  colours  faded.  He  had  a 
broad  belt  round  his  waist,  and  the  hilt  of  a  kind 
of  cutlass  peeped  from  under  his  cloak.  Other- 
wise he  was  unarmed.  I  thought  he  breathed, 
and  seemed  to  see  a  movement  in  his  breast,  and 
I  took  him  by  the  shoulder ;  but  in  the  hurry  of 
my  feelings  I  exerted  more  strength  than  I  was 
sensible  of.  I  pushed  him  with  the  violence  of 


6s 

sudden  trepidation ;  my  hand  slipped  off  his 
shoulder,  and  he  fell  on  his  side,  exactly  as  a 
statue  would,  preserving  his  posture  as  though, 
like  a  statue,  he  had  been  chiselled  out  of  marble 
or  stone. 

I  started  back  frightened  by  his  fall,  in  which 
my  fears  found  a  sort  of  life ;  but  it  was  soon 
clear  to  me  his  rigidity  was  that  of  a  man  frozen 
to  death.  His  very  hair  and  beard  stood  stiff,  as 
before,  as  though  they  were  some  exquisite  coun- 
terfeit in  ebony.  Perfectly  satisfied  that  he  was 
dead,  I  stepped  round  to  the  other  side  of  him, 
and  set  him  up  as  I  had  found  him.  He  was  as 
heavy  as  if  he  had  been  alive,  and  when  I  put  his 
back  to  the  rock  his  posture  was  exactly  as  it  had 
been,  that  of  one  deeply  meditating. 

Who  had  this  man  been  in  life  ?  How  had  he 
fallen  into  this  pass  ?  How  long  had  he  been  dead 
there,  seated  as  I  saw  him  ? 

These  were  speculations  not  to  be  resolved  by 
conjecture.  On  looking  at  the  rock  against  which 
he  leaned  and  observing  its  curvature,  it  seemed 
to  me  that  it  had  formed  pan  of  a  cave,  or  of 
some  large,  deep  hole  of  ice  ;  and  this  I  was  sure 
must  have  been  the  case,  for  it  is  certain  that, 
had  this  body  remained  long  unsheltered,  it  must 
have  been  hidden  by  the  snow. 

I  concluded  then  that  the  unhappy  man  had 
been  cast  away  upon  this  ice  whilst  it  was  under 
bleaker  heights  than  these  parallels,  and  that  he 
had  crawled  into  a  hollow,  and  perished  in  that 
melancholic  sitting  posture.  But  in  what  year 
had  hii  fate  come  upon  him  ?  I  had  nude  several 


I  AM  STARTLED  BY  A  DISCOVERY.      63 

voyages  into  distant  places  in  my  time  and  seen 
a  great  variety  of  people ;  but  I  had  never  met 
any  man  habited  as  that  body.  He  had  the 
appearance  of  a  Spanish  or  French  cut-throat  of 
the  middle  of  last  century,  and  of  earlier  times 
yet ;  for  it  may  be  known  to  you  that  the 
buccaneers  of  the  Spanish  Main  and  the  South 
Sea  were  great  lovers  of  finery ;  they  had  a 
strange  theatric  taste  in  their  choice  of  costumes, 
which,  as  you  will  suppose,  they  had  abundant 
opportunities  for  gratifying  out  of  the  many  rich 
and  glittering  wardrobes  that  fell  into  their  hands; 
and  this  man,  I  say,  with  his  large  fine  hat,  hand- 
some cloak  and  boots,  coupled  with  the  villainous 
cast  of  his  countenance  and  the  frightful  a-ppear- 
ance.  his  long  hair  gave  him,  rendered  him  to  my 
notions  the  completest  figure  that  could  be  ima- 
gined of  one  of  those  rogues  who  earned  their 
living  as  pirates. 

Thinking  I  might  find  something  on  his  person 
to  acquaint  me  with  his  story  or  that  would  furnish 
me  with  some  idea  of  the  date  of  his  being  cast 
away,  I  pulled  his  cloak  aside  and  searched  his 
pockets.  His  legs  were  thickly  cased  in  two  or 
three  pairs  of  breeches,  the  outer  pair  being  of  a 
dark  green  cloth.  He  also  wore  a  handsome  red 
waistcoat,  laced,  and  a  stout  coat  of 'a  kind  of 
frieze.  In  his  coat  pocket  I  found  a  silver 
tobacco-box,  a  small  glass  flask  fitted  with  a 
silver  band  and  half  full  of  an  amber-coloured 
liquor,  hard  froze ;  and  in  his  waistcoat  pocket  a 
gold  watch,  shaped  like  an  apple,  the  back 
curiously  chased  and  inlaid  with  jewels  of  several 


64  TUB  FROKBN  PIRATB, 

kinds,  forming  a  small  letter  M.  The  hands 
pointed  to  twenty  minutes  after  three.  A  key  of 
a  strange  shape  and  a  number  of  seals,  trinkets, 
and  the  like,  were  attached  to  the  watch. 

These  things,  together  with  a  knife,  a  key,  a 
thick  plain  silver  ring,  and  some  Spanish  pieces 
in  gold  and  silver  were  what  I  found  on  this  man. 
There  was  nothing  to  tell  me  who  he  was  nor  how 
long  he  had  been  on  the  island. 

The  searching  him  was  the  most  disagreeable 
job  I  ever  undertook  in  my  life.  His  iron-like 
rigidity  made  him  seem  to  resist  me,  and  the 
swaying  of  his  back  against  the  rock  to  the 
motions  of  my  hand  was  so  full  of  life  that  twice 
I  quitted  him,  frightened  by  it.  On  touching  his 
naked  hand  by  accident  I  discovered  that  the 
flesh  of  it  moved  upon  the  bones  as  you  pull  a 
glove  off  and  on.  I  had  had  enough  of  him,  and 
walked  away  feeling  sick.  If  he  had  companions, 
and  they  were  like  him,  I  did  not  want  to  see 
them,  unless  it  was  that  I  might  satisfy  my  curi- 
osity as  to  the  time  they  had  been  here.  I  deter- 
mined, however,  on  my  way  back  to  take  his 
cloak,  which  would  make  me  a  comfortable  rug  in 
the  boat,  and  also  the  watch,  flask,  and  tobacco- 
box  ;  for  if  I  was  drowned  they  could  but  go  to 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  which  was  their  certain 
destination  if  I  left  them  in  his  pockets  ;  and  if 
I  came  off  with  them,  then  the  money  they  would 
bring  me  must  somewhat  lighten  the  loss  of  my 
clothes  and  property  in  the  brig. 

I  pushed  onwards,  stepping  warily  and  probing 
cautiously  at  every  step,  and  earnestly  peering 


TKI  FIOZIM  SCHOOVB*.  65 

about  me,  for  after  such  a  sight  as  that  dead  man 
I  was  never  to  know  what  new  wonder  I  might 
stumble  upon.  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on  my 
left-^-that  is,  on  my  left  whilst  I  kept  my  face  to 
the  slope — there  was  the  appearance  of  a  ravine 
not  discernible  from  where  the  boat  lay.  When 
I  was  within  twenty  feet  of  the  summit  of  the  cliff, 
the  acclivity  continuing  gentle  to  the  very  brow, 
but  much*  broken,  as  I  have  said,  I  noticed  this 
hollow,  and  more  particularly  a  small  collection  of 
ice-forms,  not  nearly  so  large  as  the  other  groups 
of  this  kind,  but  most  dainty  and  lovely  neverthe- 
less. They  showed  as  the  heads  of  trees  might 
to  my  ascent,  and  when  I  had  got  a  little  higher  I 
observed  that  they  were  formed  upon  the  hither 
side  of  the  hollow,  as  though  the  convulsion  which 
had  wrought  that  chasm  had  tossed  up  those 
exquisite  caprices  of  ice.  However,  I  was  too 
eager  to  view  the  prospect  from  the  top  of  the 
cliff  to  suffer  my  admiration  to  detain  me  ;  in  a 
few  minutes  I  had  gained  the  brow,  and,  clamber- 
ing on  to  a  mass  of  rock,  I  sent  my  gaze  around. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

f  THE  FROZEN   SCHOONER. 

I  POUND  myself  on  the  summit  of  a  kind  of  table- 
land ;  vast  bodies  of  ice,  every  block  weighing 
hundreds  and  perhaps  thousands  of  tons  lay 
scattered  over  it ;  yet  for  the  space  of  a  mile  or 
so  the  character  was  that  of  flatness.  Southwards 
the  range  went  upwards  to  a  coastal  front  of  some 
hundred  feet,  with  a  huddle  of  peaks  and  strange 


66  THB  FROZIN  PIRATI. 

configurations  behind  soaring  to  an  elevation  from 
the  sea-line  of  two  or  three  hundred  feet.  North- 
wards the  range  sloped  gradually,  with  such  a 
shelving  of  its  hinder  part  that  I  could  catch  a 
glimpse  of  a  little  space  of  the  blue  sea  that  way. 
From  this  I  perceived  that  whatever  thickness 
and  surface  of  ice  lay  southwards,  in  the  north  it 
was  attenuated  to  the  shape  of  a  wedge,  so  that 
its  extreme  breadth  where  it  projected  its  cape  or 
extremity  would  not  exceed  a  musket  shot. 

A  companion  might  have  qualified  in  my  mind 
something  of  the  sense  of  prodigious  loneliness  and 
desolation  inspired  by  that  huge  picture  of  dazzling 
uneven  whiteness,  blotting  out  the  whole  of 
the  south-east  ocean,  rolling  in  hills  of  blinding 
brilliance  into  the  blue  heavens,  and  curving  and 
dying  out  into  an  airy  film  of  silvery-azure  radi- 
ance leagues  away  down  in  the  south-west.  But 
to  my  solitary  eye  the  spectacle  was  an  amazing 
and  confounding  one. 

If  I  had  not  seen  the  tract  of  dark  blue  water 
in  the  north-east,  I  might  have  imagined  that  this 
island  stretched  as  far  into  the  east  and  north  as 
it  did  in  the  south  and  west.  And  one  thing  I 
quickly  enough  understood :  that  if  1  wanted  to 
behold  the  ocean  on  the  east  side  of  the  ice  I 
should  have  to  journey  the  breadth  of  the  range, 
which  here,  where  I  was,  might  mean  one  or  five 
miles,  for  the  blocks  and  lumps  hid  the  view,  and 
'now  far  off  the  edge  of  the  cliffs  on  the  other  side 
might  be  I  could  not  therefore  gather.  This  wai 
not  to  be  dreamt  of,  and  therefore  to  this  extent 
my  climb  had  been  useless. 


THE  FKOZKN  SCHOOMJUL.  67 

Being  on  the  top  of  the  range  now,  I  could 
plainly  near  the  noises  of  the  splitting  and  internal 
convulsions  of  this  vast  formation.  The  sounds 
are  not  describable.  Sometimes  they  seemed 
like  the  explosions  of  guns,  sometimes  like  the 
growlings  and  mutterings  of  huge  fierce  beasts, 
sometimes  like  smart  single  echoless  blasts  of 
thunder  ;  and  sometimes  you  heard  a  singular  sort 
of  hissing  or  snarling,  such  as  iron  makes  when 
speeding  over  ice,  only  when  this  noise  happened 
the  volume  of  it  was  so  great  that  the  atmosphere 
trembled  upon  the  ear  with  it.  It  was  impossible 
to  fix  the  direction  of  these  sounds,  the  island  was 
full  of  them  ;  and  always  sullenly  booming  upon  the 
breeze  was  the  voice  of  the  ocean  swell  bursting 
in  foam  against  the  ice-coast  that  confronted  it. 

You  may  talk  of  the  solitude  of  a  Selkirk,  but 
surely  the  spirit  of  loneliness  in  him  could  not 
rival  the  unutterable  emotion  of  solitariness  that 
filled  my  mind  as  I  sent  my  gaze  over  those  miles 
of  frozen  stirless  whiteness.  He  had  the  sight  of 
fair  pastures,  of  trees  making  a  twinkling  twilight  on 
the  sward,  of  grassy  savannahs  and  pleasant  slopes 
of  hills  ;  the  air  was  illuminated  by  the  glorious 
plumage  of  flying  birds  ;  the  bleat  of  goats  broke 
the  stillness  in  the  valleys ;  there  was  a  golden 
regale  for  his  eye,  and  his  other  senses  were 
gratified  with  the  perfumes  of  rich  flowers  and 
engaging  concerts  among  the  trembling  leaves. 
Above  all,  there  was  the  soothing  warmth  of  a 
delicious  climate.  But  out  upon  those  heaped 
and  spreading  plains  of  snow  nothing  stirred,  if  it 
were  not  once  that  I  was  startled  by  a  loud  report, 


6*  THB  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

and  spied  a  rock  about  half  a  mile  away  slide 
down  the  edge  of  the  flat  cliff  and  tumble  into  the 
sea.  Nothing  stirred,  I  say;  there  was  an 
affrighting  solemnity  of  motionlessness  every- 
where. The  countenance  of  this  plain  glared  like 
a  great  dead  face  at  the  sky ;  neither  sympathy, 
nor  fancy,  no,  not  the  utmost  forces  of  the  imagi- 
nation, could  witness  expression  in  it.  Its  un- 
meaningness  was  ghastly,  and  the  ghastlier  for 
the  greatness  of  its  bald  and  lifeless  stare. 

[  turned  my  eyes  seawards ;  haply  it  was  the 
whiteness  that  gave  the  ocean  the  extraordinarily 
rich  dye  I  found  in  it.  The  expanse  went  in 
flowing  folds  of  violet  into  the  nethermost  heavens, 
and  though  God  knows  what  extent  of  horizon  I 
surveyed,  the  line  of  it,  as  clear  as  glass,  ran 
without  the  faintest  flaw  to  amuse  my  heart  with 
even  an  instant's  hope. 

There  was  more  weight,  however,  in  the  wind 
than  I  had  supposed.  It  blew  from  the  west 
of  north,  and  was  an  exquisitely  frosty  wind, 
despite  the  quarter  whence  it  came.  It  swept  in 
moans  among  the  rocks,  and  there  were  tones  in 
it  that  recalled  the  stormy  mutterings  we  had 
heard  in  the  blasts  which  came  upon  the  brig 
before  the  storm  boiled  down  upon  her.  But  my 
imagination  was  now  so  tight- strung  as  to  be 
imwholesomely  and  unnaturally  responsive  to 
impulses  and  influences  which  at  another  time  I 
had  not  noticed.  There  were  a  few  heavy  clouds 
in  the  north-east,  so  steam-like  that  methought 
they  borrowed  their  complexion  from  the  snow 
on  the  island's  cape  there.  I  was  pretty  sure, 


Tn  FKGZKN  Scnoovnu 
,  that  there  was  wind  behind  them,  for  if 


, 

the  roll  of  the  ocean  did  not  signify  heavy  weather 
near  to,  then  what  else  it  betokened  I  could  not 
*  imagine. 

I  cannot  express  to  you  how  the  Tery  soul 
within  me  shrank  from  putting  to  sea  in  the 
little  boat.  There  was  no  longer  the  support  of 
the  excitement  and  terror  of  escaping  from  a 
sinking  vessel.  I  stood  upon  an  island  as  solid 
as  land,  arid  the  very  sense  of  security  it  imparted 
rendered  the  boat  an  object  of  terror,  and  the 
obligation  upon  me  to  launch  into  yonder  mighty 
space  as  frightful  as  a  sentence  of  death.  Yet  I 
could  not  but  consider  that  it  would  be  equally 
shocking  to  me  to  be  locked  up  in  this  slowly 
crumbling  bodyof  ice  —  nay,  tenfold  more  shocking, 
and  that,  if  I  had  to  choose'  between  the  boat  and 
this  hideous  solitude  and  sure  starvation,  I  would 
cheerfully  accept  fifty  times  over  again  the  perils 
of  a  navigation  in  my  tiny  ark. 

This  reflection  comforted  me  somewhat,    , 
whilst  I  thus   mused  I  remained  standing  with 
eyes  upon  the  little  group  of  fanciful  fanes   and 
spires  of  iee  on  the  edge  of  the  abrupt  hollo  . 
had  been  too  preoccupied  to  take  close  notic- 
on  a  sucfden  I  started,  amazed  by  an  appearar 
too  exquisitely  perfect   to  be  credible.     The  sun 
shone  with  a  fine  white  frosty  brilliance  in,  the 
north-east  ;  some  of  these  spikes  and  %ures  of 
ice  reflected   the  radiance  in  several  counts.     In 
places  where  they  were  wind-swept  of  their  snow 
and   showed  the  naked   ice,  the   hues  were  won- 
drously  splendid,   and,   mingling  ^>on   the  sight, 


yo  THF  FROZEN  Piium 

formed  a  kind  of  airy,  rainbow-like  veil  that  com- 
plicated the  whole  congregation  of  white  shaft 
and  mani-tinctured  spire,  the  marble  column,  the 
alabaster  steeple  into  a  confused  but  most  sur- 
prisingly dainty  and  shining  scene. 

It  was  whilst  looking  at  this  that  my  eye 
traced,  a  little  distance  beyond,  the  form  of  a 
ship's  spars  and  rigging.  Through  the  labyrinth 
of  the  ice  outlines  I  clearly  made  out  two  masts, 
with  two  square  yards  on  the  foremast,  the 
rigging  perfect  so  far  as  it  went,  for  the  figuration 
showed  no  more  than  half  the  height  of  the  masts , 
the  lower  parts  being  apparently  hidden  behind 
the  edge  of  the  hollow.  I  have  said  that  this 
coast  to  the  north  abounded  in  many  groups  of 
beautiful  fantastic  shapes,  suggesting  a  great 
variety  of  objects,  as  the  forms  of  clouds  do,  but 
nothing  perfect ;  but  here  now  was  something  in 
ice  that  could  not  have  been  completer,  more 
symmetrical,  more  faultlessly  proportioned  had  it 
been  the  work  of  an  artist.  I  walked  close  to  it 
and  a  little  way  around  so  as  to  obtain  a  clearer 
view,  and  then  getting  a  fair  sight  of  the 
appearance  I  halted  again,  transfixed  with  amaze- 
ment. 

•  The  fabric  appeared  as  if  formed  of  frosted 
glass.  The  masts  had  a  good  rake,  and  with  a 
seaman's  eye  I  took  notice  ef  the  furniture, 
observing  the  shrouds,  stays,  backstays,  braces  to 
be  perfect.  Nay,  as  though  the  spirit  artist  of 
this  fragile  glittering  pageant  had  resolved  to 
omit  no  detail  to  complete  the  illusion,  there  stood 
a  vane  at  the  masthead,  shining  like  a  tongue  of 


THE  FROZEN  SCHOONER.  f\ 

ice  against  the  soft  blue  of  the  sky.  Come, 
thought  I,  recovering  from  my  wonder,  there  is 
more  in  this  than  it  is  possible  for  me  to  guess  by 
staring  from  a  distance ;  so,  striking  my  pole  into 
the  snow,  I  made  carefully  towards  the  edge  of  the 
hollow. 

The  gradual  unfolding  of  the  picture  prepareii 
my  mind  for  what  I  could  not  see  till  the  brink 
was  reached ;  then,  looking  down,  I  beheld  a 
schooner-rigged  vessel  lying  in  a  sort  of  cradle  of 
ice,  stern-on  to  the  sea.  A  man  bulked  out  with 
frozen  snow,  so  as  to  make  his  shape  as  great  as 
a  bear,  leaned  upon  the  rail  with  a  slight  upwards 
inclination  of  his  head,  as  though  he  were  in  the 
act  of  looking  fully  up  to  hail  me.  His  posture 
was  even  more  lifelike  than  that  of  the  man  under 
the  rock,  but  his  garment  of  snow  robbed  him  of 
that  reality  of  vitality  which  had  startled  me  in 
the  other,  and  the  instant  I  saw  him  I  kne\y  him 
to  be  dead.  He  was  the  only  figure  visible. 
The  whole  body  of  tha  vessel  was  frosted  by  the 
snow  into  the  glassy  aspect  of  the  spars  and 
rigging,  and  the  sunshine  striking  down  made  a 
beautiful  prismatic  picture  of  the  silent  ship. 

She  was  a  very  old  craft.  The  snow  haa 
moulded  itself  upon  her  and  enlarged  without 
spoiling  her  form.  I  found  her  age  in  the  structure 
of  her  bows,  the  headboards  of  which  curved 
very  low  round  to  the  top  of  the  stern,  forming  a 
kind  of  well  there,  the  afterpart  of  which  was 
framed  by  the  forecastle  bulkhead,  after  the 
fashion  .of  shipbuilding  in  vogue  in  the 
Anne  and  the  first  two  Georges.  Her  topi- 


Tin  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

standing,  but  her  jibboom  was  rigged  in.  I 
could  find  no  other  evidence  of  her  people  haying 
snugged  her  for  these  winter  quarters,  in  which 
she  had  been  manifestly  lying  for  years  and  years. 
I  traced  the  outlines  of  six  small  cannons  covered 
with  snow,  but  resting  with  clean-sculptured  forms 
in  their  white  coats ;  a  considerable  piece  of 
ordnance  aft,  and  several  petararoes  or  swivel- 
pieces  upon  the  after-bulwark  rails.  Gaffs  and 
booms  were  in  their  places,  and  the  sails  furled 
upon  them.  The  figuration  of  the  main  hatch 
snowed  a  small  square,  and  there  was  a  com- 
panion or  hatch-cover  abaft  the  mainmast 
There  was  no  trace  of  a  boat.  She  had  a  flush 
or  level  deck  from  the  well  in  the  bows  to  a 
fathom  or  so  past  the  main-shrouds ;  it  was  then 
broken  by  a  short  poop-deck,  which  went  in  a 
freat  spring  or  rise  to  the  stern,  that  was  after 
the  pink  style,  very  narrow  and  tall. 

Though  I  write  this  description  coldly,  let  it 
not  be  supposed  that  I  was  not  violently  agitated 
and  astonished  almost  into  the  belief  that  what  I 
beheld  was  a  mere  vision,  a  phenomenon.  The 
sight  of  the  body  I  examined  did  not  nearly  so 
greatly  astound  me  as  the  spectacle  of  this  ice- 
locked  schooner.  It  was  easy  to  account  for  the 
presence  of  a  dead  man.  My  own  situation, 
indeed,  sufficiently  solved  the  riddle  of  that  corpse. 
But  the  ship,  perfect  in  all  respects,  was  like  a 
stroke  of  magic.  She  lay  with  a  slight  list  or 
inclination  to  larboard,  but  on  the  whole  tolerably 
upright,  owing  to  the  corpulence  of  her  bilge, 
The  hollow  or  ravine  that  formed  her  bed  went 


I   LMB  MY   BOAT.  ft 

with  a  sharp  incline  under  her  item  to  the  Ma, 
which  was  visible  from  the  top  of  the  cliffs  hew 
through  the  split  in  the  rocks.  The  shelving  of 
the  ice  put  the  wash  of  the  ocean  at  a  distance 
of  a  few  hundred  feet  from  the  schooner;  but 
I  calculated  that  the  vessel's  actual  elevation 
above  the  water-line,  supposing  you  to  measure 
it  with  a  plummet  up  and  down,  did  not  exceed 
twenty  feet,  if  so  much,  the  hollow  in  which  **• 
rested  being  above  twenty  feet  deep. 

It  was  very  evident  that  the  schooner  had  at 
years  gone  by  got  embayed  in  this  ice  when  * 
was  far  to  the  southward,  and  had  in  course  of 
time  been  built  up  in  it  by  floating  masses.  For 
how  old  the  ice  about  the  poles  may  be  who  can 
tell  ?  In  those  sunless  worlds  the  frozen  con- 
tinents may  well  possess  the  antiouity  of  the  land. 
And  who  shall  name  the  monarch  who  filled  the 
throne  of  Britain  when  this  vast  field  broke  awaj 
from  the  main  and  started  on  iti  stealthy  naviga- 
tion sunwards  ? 


I  LINGERED,  I  daresay,  above  twenty  minutwi 
contemplating  this  singular  crystal  fossil  of  a  ship, 
and  considering  whether  I  should  go  down  to  her 
and  ransack  her  for  whatever  might  answer  my 
turn.  But  she  looked  so  darkly  secret  under  her 
white  garb,  and  there  was  something  so  terrible  m 
the  aspect  of  the  motionless  snow-clad  sentiaol 
who  leaned  upon  the  rail,  that  my  heart  failed  •*> 


74  THE  FROZE*  PIRATE, 

and  I  very  easily  persuaded  myself  to  belier*  that, 
first,  it  would  take  me  longer  to  penetrate  and 
search  her  than  it  was  proper  I  should  be  away 
from  the  boat ;  that,  second,  it  was  scarce  to  be 
supposed  her  crew  had  left  any  provisions  in  her, 
or  that,  if  stores  there  were,  they  would  be  fit  to 
eat ;  and  that,  finally,  my  boat  was  so  small  it 
would  be  rash  to  put  into  her  any  the  most  trifling 
matter  that  was  not  essential  to  the  preservation 
of  my  life. 

So,  concluding  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
ghostly  sparkling  fabric,  I  started  for  the  body 
under  the  rock,  and  with  some  pain  and  staggering, 
the  ice  being  very  jagged,  lumpish,  and  deceitful 
to  the  tread,  arrived  at  it. 

Nothing  but  the  desire  to  possess  the  fine  warm 
cloak  could  have  tempted  me  to  handle  or  even 
to  cast  my  eye  upon  the  dead  man  again.  I 
found  myself  more  scared  by  him  now  than  at 
first.  His  attitude  was  so  lifelike  that,  though  I 
knew  him  to  be  a  corpse,  had  he  risen  on  a  sudden 
the  surprise  of  it  could  hardly  have  shocked  me 
more  than  the  astonishment  his  posture  raised. 
As  a  skeleton  he  could  not  have  so  chilled  and 
awed  me ;  but  so  well  preserved  was  his  flesh  by 
the  cold,  that  it  was  hard  to  persuade  myself  he 
was  not  breathing,  and  that,  though  he  feigned  to 
be  gazing  downwards,  he  was  not  secretly 
observing  me. 

His  beard  was  frozen  as  hard  as  a  bush,  and  it 
crackled  unpleasantly  to  the  movement  of  m) 
hands,  which  I  was  obliged  to  force  under  k  to 
unhook  the  stiver  chain  that  confined  the  cloak 


i  LOU  MY  BOAT,  75 

About  his  neck.  I  felt  like  a  thief,  and  stole  a 
glance  over  either  shoulder  as  though,  forsooth, 
some  strangely  clad  companion  of  his  should  be 
creeping  upon  me  unawares.  Then,  thought  I, 
since  I  have  the  cloak  I  may  as  well  take  the 
watch,  flask,  and  tobacco-box,  as  I  had  before 
resolved ;  and  so  I  dipped  my  hand  into  his 
pockets,  and  without  another  glance  at  his  fierce 
still  face  made  for  the  boat. 

I  now  noticed  for  the  first  time,  so  over- 
whelmingly had  my  discoveries  occupied  my 
attention,  that  the  wind  had  freshened  and  was 
blowing  briskly  and  piercingly.  When  I  had 
first  started  upon  the  ascent  of  the  slope,  the 
wind  had  merely  wrinkled  the  swell  as  the  large 
bodies  ran;  but  those  wrinkles  had  become  little 
seas,  which  flashed  into  foam  after  a  short  race, 
and  the  whole  surface  of  the  ocean  was  a 
brilliant  blue  tremble.  I  came  to  a  halt  to  view 
the  north-east  sky  before  the  brow  of  the  r 
hid  it,  and  saw  that  clouds  were  congregating 
there,  and  some  of  thefh  blowing  up  to  where  the 
sun  hung,  thes<  ;bling  in  shape  and  colour 

the  compact  puff  of  the  first  discharge  of  aca 
before    the    sn  reads    on   the    air.     \\  hat 

should  I  do?     1  sank  into  a  miserable  perph 
If  it  was  going  to  blow  what  good   could   a 
my    departure    from     this    island?      It    was    an 
adverse  wind,  and  when   it  freshened    I   could  not 
choose  but  run  before  it,  and  tiuu  would  driv 
clear  'ii  the  direction  I  required 

10   wait   upon   the 
hew  bug  should.   I    be    kept  a  pris* 


7*  Tn  Pftoaour  PHATB. 

luvrkl  place?  Tree,  a  southerly  wind  might 
•prinf  up  to-morrow,  but  it  might  be  otherwise,  or 
come  in  a  hard  gale ;  and  if  I  faltered  now  I  might 
go  on  hesitating,  and  then  my  provisions  would 
give  out,  and  God  alone  knows  how  it  would  end 
with  me.  Besides,  the  presence  of  the  two  bodies 
made  the  island  fearful  to  my  imagination,  and 
nature  clamoured  in  me  to  begone,  a  summons  my 
judgment  could  not  resist,  for  reason  often 
misleads,  but  instincts  never. 

I  fell  again  to  my  downward  march  and  looked 
towards  my  boat — that  is  to  say,  I  looked  towards 
the  part  of  the  ice  where  the  little  haven  in  which  she 
lay  had  been,  and  Hound  both  boat  and  haven  gone! 

I  rubbed  my  eyes  and  stared  again.  Tush, 
thought  I,  I  am  deceived  by  the  ice.  I  glanced 
at  the  slope  behind  to  keep  me  to  my  bearings, 
and  once  more  sought  the  haven  ;  but  the  rock 
that  had  formed  it  was  gone,  the  blue  swell  rolled 
brimming  past  the  line  of  shore  there,  and  my  eye 
following  the  swing  of  a  fold,  I  saw  the  boat  about 
three  cables  length  distant  out  upon  the  water. 
swinging  steadily  away  into  the  south,  and 
showing  and  disappearing  with  the  heave. 

The  dead  man's    cloak   fell   from   my  arm  ;   I 
uttered  a  cry  of  anguish  ;   I  clasped  my  hands  and 
lifted  them  to  God,  and  looked  up  to  Him.     I 
for  kicking  off  my  boots  and   plunging  into    the 
water,  but,  mad  as  I  was,  I  was  not  so  mad  as  ti 
and  mad  I  should  have  been   to  attempt   it,   for  I 
could  not  swim  twenty  strokes,  and  had  I  been  the 
stoutest  swimmer  that  ever  breasted  the  salt  spray, 
the  cold  must  speedily  put  an  end  to  my  misery. 


I  LO«B  mr  BOAT.  ff 

What  was  to  be  done?    Nothing!     I  could 

only  look  idly  at  the  receding  boat  with  reeling 
brain.  The  full  blast  of  the  wind  was  upon  her, 
and  helping  the  driving  action  of  the  billows, 
perceived  that  she  was  irrecoverable,  and  yet  I 
stood  watching,  watching,  watching !  my  head 
burning  with  the  surgings  of  twenty  impracticable 
schemes.  I  cast  myself  down  and  wept,  stood  up 
afresh  and  looked  at  the  boat,  then  cried  to  God 
for  help  and  mercy,  bringing  my  hands  to  my 
throbbing  temples,  and  in  that  posture  straining 
my  eyes  at  the  fast  vanishing  structure.  She  was 
the  only  hope  I  had — my  sole  chance.  My  little 
stock  of  provisions  was  in  her — oh,  what  was  I  to  do  ? 

Though  I  was  at  some  distance  from  the  place 
where  what  I  have  called  my  haven  had  been, 
there  was  no  need  for  me  to  approach  it  to 
understand  how  my  misfortune  had  come  about. 
It  was  likely  enough  that  the  very  crevice  in  which 
I  had  jammed  the  mast  to  secure  the  boat  by  was 
a  deep  crack  that  the  increased  swell  had  wholly 
split,  so  that  the  mast  had  tumbled  when  the  rock 
floated  away  and  liberated  the  boat. 

The  horror  that  this  white  and  frightful  scene  of 
desolation  had  at  the  beginning  filled  me  with  was 
renewed  with  such  violence  when  I  saw  that  my 
boat  was  lost,  and  I  was  to  be  a  prisoner  on  the 
death-haunted  waste,  that  I  fell  down  in  a  sort  of 
swoon,  like  one  partly  stunned,  anil  had  any 
person  come  along  and  seen  me  he  would  hare 
thought  me  as  dead  as  the  body  on  the  hill  or  the 
corpse  that  kept  its  dismal  look-out  from  tto  deck 
of  tne  schooner. 


78  THE  FROZEN  Pi  RAT*. 

My  senses  presently  returning,  I  got  up,  an<5  th« 
rock  upon  which  I  stood  being  level,  I  fell  to 
pacing  -it  with  my  hands  lockea  behind  me,  my 
head  sunk,  lost  in  thought.  The  wind  was 
steadily  freshening ;  it  split  with  a  howling  noise 
upon  the  ice-crags  and  unequal  surfaces,  and  spun 
with  a  hollow  note  past  my  ear ;  and  the  thunder 
of  the  breakers  on  the  other  side  of  the  island  was 
deepening  its  tone.  The  sea  was  lifting  and 
whitening ;  something  of  mistiness  had  grown  up 
over  the  horizon  that  made  a  blue  dulness  of  the 
junction  of  the  elements  there  ;  but  though  a  few 
clouds  out  of  the  collection  of  vapour  in  the  north- 
east had  floated  to  the  zenith  and  were  sailing 
down  the  south-west  heaven,  the  azure  remained 
pure  and  the  sun  very  frostily  white  and 
sparkling. 

I  am  writing  a  strange  story  with  the  utmost 
candour,  and  trust  that  the  reader  will  not  judge 
me  severely  for  my  confession  of  weakness,  or 
consider  me  as  wanting  in  the  stuff  out  of  which- 
the  hardy  seaman  is  made  for  owning  to  having 
shed  tears  and  been  stunned  by  the  loss  of  my 
little  boat  and  slender  stock  of  food.  You  will 
say,  "  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  dead  to  hurt 
a  man ;  what  more  pitiful  and  harmless  than  a 
poor  unburied  corpse  ?  "  I  answer,  "  True,"  and" 
declare  that  of  the  two  bodies,  as"  dead  men,  I  was 
not  afraid ;  but  this  mass  of  frozen  solitude  was 
about  them,  and  they  took  a  frightful  character 
from  it ;  they  communicated  an  element  of  death 
to  the  desolation  of  the  snow-clad  island ;  their 
presence  made  a  principality  of  it  for  the  souls  of 


f  losi  MY  BOAT.  79 


dead  sailors,  and  into  their  lifelike  stillness  it  put 
its  own  supernatural  spirit  of  loneliness  ;  so  that 
to  my  imagination,  disordered  by  suffering  and 
exposure,  this  melancholy  region  appeared  a  scene 
without  parallel  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  a  place 
of  doom  and  madness,  as  dreadful  and  wild 
as  the  highest  mood  of  the  poet  could  reach  up 
to. 

By  this  time  the  boat  was  out  of  sight.  1 
looked  and  looked,  but  she  was  gone.  Then  came 
my  good  angel  to  my  help  and  put  some  courage 
into  me.  "  After  all,"  thought  I,  "what  do  1 
dread  ?  Death  !  it  can  but  come  to  that.  It  is 
not  long  ago  that  Captain  Rosy  cried  to  me,  "  A 
man  can  die  but  once.  He1  II  not  perish  the  quicker 
for  contemplating  his  end  -with  a  stout  heart" 
He  that  so  spoke  is  dead.  The  worst  is  over  for 
him.  Were  he  a  babe  resting  upon  his  mother's 
breast  he  could  not  sleep  more  soundly,  be  more 
tenderly  lulled,  nor  be  freer  from  such  anguish  as 
now  afflicts  me  who  cling  to  life,  as  if  this  —  this," 
I  cried,  looking  around  me,  "  were  a  paradise  of 
vvarmth  and  beauty.  I  must  be  a  man,  ask  God 
for  courage  to  meet  whatever  may  betide,  and 
stoutly  endure  what  cannot  be  evaded." 

Do  not  smile  at  the  simple  thoughts  of  a  poor 
castaway  sailor.  I  hold  them  still  to  be  good 
reasoning,  and  had  my  flesh  been  as  strong  as  my 
spirit  they  had  availed,  I  don't  doubt.  But  I  was 
chilled  to  the  marrow;  the  mere  knowing  that 
there  was  nothing  to  eat  sharpened  my  appetite, 
and  I  felt  as  if  I  had  not  tasted  food  for  a  week  ; 
and  here  then  were  physical  conditions  which 


io  TKB  F&OUN  PIKATB. 

broke   ruinously   into   philosophy  and    staggered 
religious  trust. 

My  mind  went  to  the  schooner,  yet  I  felt  an 
extraordinary  recoil  within  me  when  I  thought  of 
seeking  an  asylum  in  her.  I  had  the  figure  of  her 
before  my  fancy,  viewed  the  form  of  the  man  on 
her  deck,  and  the  idea  of  penetrating  her  dark 
interior  and  seeking  shelter  in  a  fabric  that  time 
and  frost  and  death  had  wrought  into  a  black 
mystery  was  dreadful  to  me.  Nor  was  this  all. 
It  seemed  like  the  very  last  expression  of  despair 
to  board  that  stirless  frame  ;  to  make  a  dwelling- 
place,  without  prospect  of  deliverance,  in  that 
hollow  of  ice ;  to  become  in  one  sense  as  dead  as 
her  lonely  mariner,  yet  preserve  all  the  sensibility 
of  the  living  to  a  condition  he  was  as  unconscious 
of  as  the  ice  that  enclosed  him. 

It  must  be  done  nevertheless,  thought  I ;  I 
shall  certainly  perish  from  exposure  if  I  linger 
here;  besides,  how  do  I  know  but  that  I  may 
discover  in  that  ship  some  means  of  escaping  from 
the  island  ?  Assuredly  there  was  plenty  of  material 
in  her  for  the  building  of  a  boat,  if  I  could  meet 
with  tools.  Or  possibly  I  might  find  a  boat  under 
hatches,  for  it  was  common  for  vessels  of  her  class 
and  in  her  time  to  stow  their  pinnaces  in  the  hold, 
and,  when  the  necessity  for  using  them  arose,  to 
hoist  them  out  and  tow  them  astern. 

These  reflections  somewhat  heartened  me,  and 
also  let  me  add  that  the  steady  mounting  of  the 
wind  into  a  small  gale  served  to  reconcile  me,  not 
indeed  to  the  loss  of  my  boat,  but  to  rny  detention  ; 
for  though  there  might  be  a  miserable  languishing 


I  ion  MY  BOAT.  Si 

for  me  here,  I  could  not  but  beliere  that  there 
was  certain  death,  too,  out  there  in  that  high  iwell 
and  in  those  sharpening  peaks  of  water  off  whose 
foaming  heads  the  wind  was  blowing  the  spray. 
By  which  I  mean  the  boat  could  not  have  plyed 
in  such  a  wind  ;  she  must  have  run,  and  by  running 
have  carried  me  into  the  stormier  regions  of  the 
south,  where,  even  if  she  had  lived,  I  must 
speedily  have  starved  for  victuals  and  perished  of 
cold. 

Hope  lives  like  a  spark  amid  the  very  blackest 
embers  of  despondency.  Twenty  minutes  before  I 
had  awakened  from  a  sort  of  swoon  and  was 
overwhelmed  with  misery ;  and  now  here  was  I 
taking  a  collected  view  of  my  situation,  even  to 
the  extent  of  .being  willing  to  believe  that  on  the 
whole  it  was  perhaps  as  well  that  I  should  have 
been  hindered  from  putting  to  sea  in  my  little 
eggshell.  So  at  every  step  we  rebel  at  the 
shadowy  conducting  of  the  hand  of  God ;  yet  from 
every  stage  we  arrive  at  we  look  back  arid  know 
the  road  we  have  travelled  to  be  the  right  one 
though  we  start  afresh  mutinously.  Lord,  what 
patience  hast  Thou  ! 

I  turned  my  back  upon  the  clamorous  ocean 
and  started  to  ascend  the  slope  once  more.  When 
I  reached  the  brow  of  the  cliffs  I  observed 
that  the  clouds  had  lost  their  fleeciness  and 
taken  a  slatish  tinge,  were  moving  fast  and 
crowding  up  the  sky,  insomuch  that  the  sun  was 
leaping  from  one  edge  to  another  and  darting  a 
keen  and  frosty  light  upon  the  scene.  The  wind 
was  bitterly  cold,  and  screamed  shrilly  in  my 


82  TNI    FfcOZKN    Pit  AT*. 

when  I  met  the  full  tide  of  it.  The  change  was 
sudden,  but  it  did  not  surprise  me.  I  knew  these 
seas,  and  that  our  English  April  is  not  more 
capricious  than  the  weather  in  them,  only  that 
here  the  sunny  smile,  though  sparkling,  is 
frostier  than  the  kiss  of  death,  and  brief  as  the 
flight  of  a  musket-ball,  whilst  the  frowns  are 
black,  savage,  and  lasting. 

I  bore  the  dead  man's  cloak  on  my  arm  and 
helped  myself  along  with  the  oar,  and  presently 
amved  at  the  brink  of  the^lope  in  whose  hollow 
lay  the  ship  as  in  a  cup.     The  wind  made  a  noisy 
howling  in  her  rigging,  but  the  tackling  was  frozen 
so  iron  hard  that  not  a  rope  stirred,  and  the  vane 
at  the  masthead  was  as  motionless  as  any  of  the 
adjacent  steeples  or  pillars  of  ice.     My  heart  was 
dismayed  again  by  the  figure  of  the  man.     He 
was  more  dreadful  than  the  other  because  of  the 
size   to  which   the   frozen   snow  upon  his  head, 
trunk,  and  limbs  had  swelled  him ;  and  the  half 
rise  of  his  face  was  particularly  startling,  as  if  he 
were  in  the  very  act  of  running  his  gaze  softly 
upwards.     That  he  should  have  died  in  that  easy 
leaning  posture  was  strange  ;  however,  I  supposed, 
and  no  doubt  rightly,  that  he  had   been  seized 
with  a  sudden  faintness,  and  had  leaned  upon  the 
rail   and   so   expired.     The  cold   would   quickly 
make  him  rigid  and  likewise  preserve  him,  an<l 
thus  he  might  have  been  leaning,  contemplatii  ^ 
the  ice  of  the  cliffs,  for  years  and  yean! 

A  wild  and  dreadful  thing  for  one  in  my  condition 
to  light  on  and  be  forced  to  think  of. 

My  heart,  as  I  have  said,  sank  in  »•  again  at 


!    LOSF    MY    &UT  13 

the  sight  of  him,  and  fear  and  2 we  and  super- 
stition so  worked  upon  my  spirits  that  I  stood 
irresolute,  and  would  have  gone  back  had  there 
been  any  place  to  return  to.  I  plucked  up  after 
a  little,  and,  rolling  up  the  cloak  into  a  compact 
bundle,  flung  it  with  all  my  strength  to  the  vessel, 
and  it  fell  cleverly  just  within  the  rail.  Then 
gripping  the  oar  I  started  on  the  descent. 

The  depth  was  not  great  nor  the  declivity  sharp; 
but  the  surface  was  formed  of  blocks  of  ice,  like 
the  collections  of  big  stones  you  sometimes  en- 
counter on  the  sides  of  mountains  near  the  base  ; 
and  I  had  again  and  again  to  fetch  a  compass  so 
as  to  gain  a  smaller  block  down  which  to  drop, 
till  I  was  close  to  the  vessel,  and  here  the  snow 
had  piled  and  frozen  into  a  smooth  face. 

The  ship  lay  with  a  list  or  inclination  to  lar- 
board. I  had  come  down  to  her  on  her  starboard 
side.  She  had  small  channels  with  long  plates, 
but  her  list,  on  my  side,  hove  them  somewhat 
high,  beyond  my  reach,  and  I  perceived  that  to 
get  aboard  I  must  seek  an  entrance  on  the  lar- 
board hand.  This  was  not  hard  to  arrive  at; 
indeed,  I  had  but  to  walk  round  her,  under  her 
bows.  She  was  so  coated  with  hard  snow  1  could 
see  nothing  of  her  timbers,  and  was  therefore  un- 
able to  guess  at  the  condition  of  the  hull.  She 
had  a  most  absurd  swelling  bilge,  and  her 
buttocks,  viewed  on  a  line  with  her  rudder,  doubt- 
less presented  the  exact  appearance  of  an  apple. 
She  was  sunk  in  snow  to  some  planks  above  the 
garboard-streak,  but  her  lines  forward  were  fine, 
making  her  almost  wedge-shaped,  though  the  Hair 


84  THE  F  AT«. 

of  her  bows  was  great,  so  that  she  swelled  up  like 
a  balloon  to  the  catheads.  She  had  something 
of  the  look  of  the  barca-longas  of  half  a  century 
ago — that  is,  half  a  century  ago  from  the  date  of 
my  adventure ;  but  that  which,  in  sober  truth,  a 
man  would  have  taken  her  to  be  was  a  vessel 
formed  of  snow,  sparred  and  rigged  with  glass- 
like  frosted  ice,  the  artistic  caprice  of  the  genius 
or  spirit  of  this  white  and  melancholy  scene,  who, 
to  complete  the  mocking  illusion,  had  fashioned 
the  figure  of  a  man  to  stand  on  deck  with  a 
human  face  toughened  into  an  idle  eternal  con- 
templation. 

On  the  larboard  hand  the  ice  pressed  close 
against  the  vessel's  side,  some  pieces  rising  to 
the  height  of  her  wash-streak.  The  face  of  the 
hollow  was  precipitous  here,  full  of  cracks  and 
flaws  and  sharp  projections.  Indeed,  had  the 
breadth  of  the  island  been  as  it  was  at  the 
extremity  I  might  have  counted  upon  the  first 
violent  commotion  of  the  sea  snapping  this  part 
of  the  ice,  and  converting  the  northern  part  of  the 
body  into  a  separate  berg. 

I  climbed  without  difficulty  into  the  forechains, 
the  snow  being  so  hard  that  my  feet  and  hands 
made  not  the  least  impression  on  it,  and  some- 
what warily — feeling  the  government  of  a  peculiar 
awe,  mounting  into  a  sort  of  terror  indeed — stood 
awhile  peering  over  the  rail  of  the  bulwarks ;  then 
entered  the  ship.  I  ran  my  eyes  swiftly  here  and 
there,  for  indeed  I  did  not  know  what  might  steal 
or  leap  into  view.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  I 
was  a  sailor,  with  the  superstitious  feelings  of  mj 


ANOTHER  STARTLING  DISCOVERY.          85 

calling  in  me,  and  though  I  do  not  know  that  1 

actually  believed  in  ghosts  and  apparitions  and 
spectrums,  yet  I  felt  as  if  I  did  ;  particularly  upon 
the  deck  of  this  silent  ship,  rendered  spirit-like  by 
the  grave  of  ice  in  which  she  lay  and  by  the  long 
years  (as  I  could  not  doubt)  during  which  she  had 
thus  rested.  Hence,  when  I  slipped  off  the  bul- 
wark on  to  the  deck  and  viewed  the  ghastly, 
white,  lonely  scene,  I  felt  for  the  moment  as  if 
this  strange  discovery  of  mine  was  not  to  be 
exhausted  of  its  wonders  and  terrors  by  the  mere 
existence  of  the  ship — in  other  words,  that  I  must 
expect  something  of  the  supernatural  to  enter 
into  this  icy  sepulchre,  and  be  prepared  for  sights 
more  marvellous  and  terrifying  than  frozen  corpses. 

So  I  stood  looking  forward  and  aft,  very  swiftly, 
and  in  a  way  I  dare  say  that  a  spectator  would 
have  thought  laughable  enough  ;  nor  was  my 
imagination  soothed  by  the  clear,  harping,  ring- 
ing sounds  of  the  wind  seething  through  the 
frozen  rigging  where  the  masts  rose  above  the 
shelter  of  the  sides  of  the  hollow. 

Presently,  getting  the  better  of  my  perturbation, 
1  walked  aft,  and,  stepping  on  to  the  poop-deck, 
fell  to  an  examination  of  the  companion  or  cover- 
ing of  the  after-hatch,  which,  as  I  have  elsewhere 
said,  was  covered  with  snow. 

CHAPTER   X. 

ANOTHER    STARTLING   DISCOVERY. 

THIS  hatch  formc'l  the  entrance  to  the  cabin,  and 
there  was  no  other  road  to  it  that  I  could  see.     If 


86  THE  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

I  wanted  to  use  it  I  must  first  scrape  away  the 
snow  ;  but  unhappily  I  had  left  my  knife  in  the 
boat,  and  was  witnout  any  instrument  that  would 
serve  me  to  scrape  with.  I  thought  of  breaking 
the  beer-bottle  that  was  in  my  pocket  and  scratch- 
ing with  a  piece  of  the  glass;  but  before  doing 
this  it  occurred  to  me  to  search  the  body  on  the 
starboard  side. 

I  approached  him  as  if  he  were  alive  and 
murderously  fierce,  and  I  own  I  did  not  like  to 
touch  him.  He  resembled  the  figure  of  a  giant 
moulded  in  snow.  In  life  he  must  have  been  six 
feet  and  a  half  tall.  The  snow  had  bloated  him, 
and  though  he  leaned  he  stood  as  high  as  I,  who 
was  of  a  tolerable  stature.  The  snow  was  on  his 
beard  and  mustaches  and  on  his  hair ;  but  these 
features  were  merged  and  compacted  into  the 
snow  on  his  coat,  and  as  his  cap  came  low  and 
was  covered  with  snow  too,  he,  with  the  little 
fragment  of  countenance  that  remained,  the  flesh 
whereof  had  the  colour  and  toughness  of  the  skin 
of  a  drum  that  has  been  well  beaten,  submitted  as 
terrible  an  object  as  mortal  sight  ever  rested  on. 
1  say  I  did  not  like  to  touch  him,  and  one  reason 
was  I  feared  he  would  tumble ;  and  though  I 
know  not  why  I  should  have  dreaded  this,  yet  the 
apprehension  of  it  so  worked  in  me  that  for  some 
time  it  held  me  idly  staring  at  him. 

But  I  could  not  enter  the  cabin  without  first 
scraping  the  snow  from  the  companion  door;  and 
the  cold,  after  I  had  stood  a  few  moments  inactive, 
was  so  bitter  as  to  set  me    craving  for   sh- 
So  1  put  my  hand  upon  the  body,  and  discovered 


A  MOTHER    S^AKTUNfi    DlSCOVEKY.  if 

it,  as  1  might  have  foreseen,  frozen  to  the  hard- 
ness of  steel.  His  coat — if  I  may  call  that  a  coat 
which  resembled  a  robe  of  snow — fell  to  within  a 
few  inches  of  the  deck.  Steadying  the  body  with 
one  hand,  I  heartily  tweaked  the  coat  with  the 
other,  hoping  thus  to  rupture  the  ice  upon  it  ;  in 
doing  which  I  slipped  and  fell  on  my  back,  and  in 
falling  gave  a  convulsive  kick  which,  striking  the 
feet  of  the  figure,  dislodged  them  from  their  frozen 
hold  of  the  deck,  and  down  it  fell  with  a  mighty 
bang  alongside  of  me,  and  with  a  loud  crackling 
noise,  like  the  rending  of  a  sheet  of  silk. 

I  was  not  hurt,  and  sprang  to  my  feet  with  the 
alacrity  of  fright,  and  looking  at  the  body  saw 
that  it  had  managed  by  its  fall  much  better  than 
my  hands  could  have  compassed  ;  for  the  snow 
shroud  was  cracked  and  crumpled,  slabs  of  it  had 
broken  away  leaving  the  cloth  of  the  coat  visible, 
and  what  best  pleased  me  was  the  sight  of  the 
end  of  a  hanger  forking  out  from  the  skirt  of  the 
coat. 

Yet  to  come  at  it  so  as  to  draw  the  blade  from 
its  scabbard  required  an  intolerable  exertion  of 
strength.  The  clothes  on  this  body  were  indeed 
like  a  suit  of  mail.  I  never  could  have  believed 
that  frost  served  cloth  so.  At  last  I  managed 
to  pull  the  coat  clear  of  the  hilt  of  the  hanger; 
the  blade  was  stuck,  but  after  I  had  tugged  *  bit  it 
slipped  out,  and  I  found  it  a  good  pi^ce  of 
steel. 

The  corpse  was  habited  in  jack-boots,  a  (  oat  of 
coarse  thick  cloth  lined  with  flannel,  under  this  a 
kind  of  blouse  or  doublet  of  red  cloth,  confined 


SS  THI  FROZEN  PIRATM. 

by  a  belt  with  leathern  loops  for  pistols.  His 
apparel  gave  me  no  clue  to  the  age  he  belonged 
to ;  it  was  no  better,  indeed,  than  a  sort  of  mas- 
querading attire,  as  though  the  fashions  of  more 
than  one  country,  and  perhaps  of  more  than  one 
age,  had  gone  to  the  habiting  of  him.  He  looked 
a  burly,  immense  creature,  as  he  lay  upon  the  deck 
in  the  same  bent  attitude  in  which  he  had  stood 
at  the  rail,  and  so  dreadful  was  his  face,  with  a 
singular  diabolical  expression  of  leering  malice, 
caused  by  the  lids  of  his  eyes  being  half  closed, 
that  having  taken  one  peep  I  had  no  mind  to 
repeat  it,  though  I  was  above  ten  minutes  wrest- 
ling with  his  cloak  and  hanger  before  I  had  the 
weapon  fairly  in  my  hand. 

I  walked  to  the  companion  and  fell  to  scraping 
the  snow  away  from  it.  'Twas  like  scratching  at 
mortar  between  bricks.  But  I  worked  hard,  and 
presently,  with  the  point  of  the  hanger,  felt  the 
crevice  'twixt  the  door  and  its  jamb,  after  which 
it  was  not  long  before  I  had  carved  the  door  out 
of  its  plate  of  ice  and  snow. 

The  wind  was  now  blowing  a  fresh  gale,  and 
the  howling  aloft  was  extremely  melancholy  and 
dismal.  I  could  not  see  the  ocean,  but  I  heard 
it  thundering  with  a  hollow  roaring  note 
the  sharp  reports  and  distant  sullen  crashing 
noises,  with  nearer  convulsions  within  the  ice 
were  very  frequent. 

My  labour  warmed  me,  but  it  also  increased  im 
hunger.     While    I    hacked    and    scraped   at    the 
snow   I  was   considering  whether   I    should   t 
across  anything  fit  to  eat  in  the   ship,  and    it   nui 


ANOTHER  STARTLING  DISCOVERY.          89 

what  I  was  to  do.  Here  was  a  vessel  assuredly 
not  less  than  fifty  or  sixty  years  old,  and  even 
supposing  she  was  almost  new  when  she  fell  in 
with  the  ice,  the  date  of  her  disaster  would  still 
carry  her  back  half  a  century ;  so  that — and 
certainly  there  was  much  in  the  appearance  of  the 
body  on  the  rocks  to  warrant  the  conjecture — she 
would  have  been  thus  sepulchred  and  fossilized 
for  fifty  years ! 

What,  then,  in  the  form  of  provisions  proper 
for  human  food,  such  as  even  a  famine-driven 
stomach  could  deal  with,  was  I  likely  to  find  in 
her  ?  Would  not  her  crew  have  eaten  her  bare, 
devoured  the  very  heart  out  of  her,  before  they 
perished  ? 

These  thoughts  weighed  heavily  in  me,  but  I 
toiled  on  nevertheless,  and  having  cleared  the 
door  of  the  snow  that  bound  it,  I  prized  it  apart  with 
the  hanger  and  then  dragged  at  it ;  but  the  snow 
on  the  deck  would  not  let  it  open  far,  and  as  there 
was  room  for  me  to  squeeze  through,  I  did  not 
stop  to  scrape  the  obstruction  away. 

A  flight  of  steps  sank  into  the  darkness  of  the 
interior,  and  a  cold  strange  smell  floated  up,  with 
something  of  a  dry  earthiness  of  flavour  and  a 
mingling  of  leather  and  timber.  I  fell  back  a 
pace  to  let  something  of  this  smell  exhale 
before  I  ventured  into  an  atmosphere  that  had 
been  hermetically  bottled  by  the  ice  in  that  cabin 
since  the  hour  when  this  little  door  was  last  closed. 
Superstition  was  active  in  me  again,  and  when  1 
peered  into  the  blackness  at  the  bottom  of  the 
natch  I  felt  as  might  a  schoolboy  on  the  threshold 


9o  THE  FROZEN  PIRAT*. 

of  a  haunted  room  in  which  he  is  to  be  locked  up 

as  a  punishment. 

I  put  my  foot  on  the  ladder  and  descended 
very  slowly  indeed,  my  inclination  being  strong 
the  other  way,  and  I  kept  on  looking  downwards 
in  a  state  of  ridiculous  fright  as  though  at  any 
moment  I  should  be  seized  by  the  leg;  being  in  too 
much  confusion  of  mind  to  consider  that  it  was 
impossible  anything  living  could  be  below,  whilst 
a  ghostly  shadow  could  not  catch  hold  of  me  so 
as  to  cause  me  to  feel  its  grasp.  But  then  if  fear 
could  reason,  it  would  cease  to  be  fear. 

On  reaching  the  bottom  I  remained  standing 
close  against  the  ladder,  striving  to  see  into  what 
manner  of  place  I  was  arrived.  The  glare  of  the 
whiteness  of  the  decks  and  rocks  hung  upon  my 
eyes  like  a  kind  of  blindness  charged  with  fires 
of  several  colours,  and  I  could  not  obtain  the 
faintest  glimpse  of  any  part  of  this  interior  outside 
the  sphere  of  the  little  square  of  hazy  light  which 
lay  upon  the  deck  at  the  foot  of  the  steps.  The 
darkness,  indeed,  was  so  deep  that  I  concluded 
this  was  no  more  than  a  narrow  well  fornrn 
bulkheads,  and  that  the  cabin  was  beyond,  and  U;d 
to  by  a  door  in  the  bulkhead. 

To  test  this  conjecture  I  extended  my  arms  in  a 
groping    posture    and    stepped    a  pace   fon.vard, 
feeling  to  right  and  left,  till,  having  gone  fiv 
six  paces  from  the    ladder,  my  fingers    touched 
something  Cold,  and   feeling  it,  I  passed   my  hand 
down  what    I    instantly  knew  by  the  proji 
the  nose  and  the   roughness  of  hair  on  the  upper 
lip  to  be  a  human  face  I 


AKOTHKF  STARTLING  DISCOVERY.  91 

A  little  reflection  might  have  prepared  me  for 
this,  but  I  had  n  oted,  at  least  in  this 

direction,  and  was  therefore  not  prepared  ;  and  the 
horrible  thrill  of  that  black  chill  contact  went  in 
an  agony  through  my  nerves,  and  I  burst  into  a 
violent  perspiration. 

I  backed  away  with  all  my  hair  astir,  and  then 
shot  up  the  ladder  as  if  the  devil  had  been  behind 
me;  and  when  I  reached  the  deck  I  was 
trembling  so  violently  that  I  had  to  lean  against 
the  companion  lest  my  knees  should  give  way. 
Never  in  all  my  time  had  I  received  such  a  fright 
as  this  ;  but  then  I  had  gone  to  it  in  a  fright,  and 
was  exactly  in  the  state  of  mind  to  be  terrified  out 
of  my  senses.  My  soul  had  been  rendered  sick 
and  weak  within  me  by  mental  and  corporeal 
suffering;  my  loneliness,  too,  was  dreadful,  and 
the  wilder  and  more  scaring  too  for  this  my 
unhappy  association  with  the  dead  ;  the  shrieking 
in  the  rigging  was  like  the  tongue  given  by  endless 
packs  of  hunting  phantom  wolves,  and  the 
growling  and  cracking  noises  of  the  ice  in  all 
directions  would  have  made  one  coming  new  to 
this  desolate  scene  suppose  that  the  island  of  ice 
was  full  of  fierce  beasts. 

But  needs  must  when  Old  Nick  drives;  I  had 
either  to  find  courage  to  enter  the  schooner  and 
search  her,  and  so  stand  to  come  across  the 
means  to  prolong  my  life,  and  perhaps  procure 
my  deliverance,  or  perish  of  famine  and  frost  or 
deck. 

The  companion  door  was  small,  and  being 
scarce  more  than  ajar  I  was  not  surprised  that 


92  THE  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

only  a  very  faint  light  entered  by  it.     If  the  top 

were  removed  I  doubted  not  I  should  be  able  to 
get  a  view  of  the  cabin,  enough  to  show  me  where 
the  windows  or  port-holes  were.  So  I  went  to 
work  with  the  hanger  again,  insensibly  obtaining 
a  little  stock  of  courage  from  the  mere  brandish- 
ing of  it.  In  half  an  hour  I  had  chipped  and  cut 
away  the  ice  round  the  companion,  and  then 
found  it  to  be  one  of  those  old-fashioned  clumsy 
hatch-covers  formerly  used  in  certain  kinds  of 
Dutch  ships — namely,  a  box  with  a  shoulder- 
shaped  lid.  This  lid,  though  heavy,  and  fitting 
with  a  tongue,  I  managed  to  unship,  on  which 
the  full  square  of  the  hatch  lay  open  to  the 
sky. 

The  light  gave  me  heart.  Once  more  I 
descended.  After  a  few  moments  the  bewildering 
dazzle  of  the  snow  faded  off  my  sight,  and  I  could 
see  very  distinctly. 

The  cabin  was  a  small  room.  The  forward  part 
lay  in  shadow,  but  I  could  distinguish  the  outline 
of  the  mainmast  amidships  of  the  bulkhead  there. 
In  the  centre  of  this  cabin  was  a  small  square 
table  supported  by  iron  pins,  that  pierced  through 
stanchions  in  such  a  manner  that  the  table  could 
at  will  be  raised  to  the  ceiling,  and  there  left  for 
the  conveniency  of  space. 

At  this  table,  seated  upon  short  quaintly-wrought 
benches,  and  immediately  facing  each  other,  were 
two  men.  They  were  incomparably  more  lifelike 
tnan  the  frozen  figures.  The  one  whose  back 
v*iis  upon  the  hatchway  ladder,  being  the  man 
whose  face  I  had  stroked,  sat  upright,  in  the 


ANOTHER  .STARTLING  DISCOVERY.          93 

posture  of  a  person  about  to  start  up,  both  hands 
upon  the  rim  of  the  table,  and  his  countenance 
raised  as  if,  in  a  sudden  terror  and  agony  of  death, 
he  had  darted  a  look  to  God.  So  inimitably 
expressive  of  life  was  his  attitude,  that  though  I 
knew  him  to  be  a  frozen  body  as  perished  as  if 
he  had  died  with  Adam  or  Noah,  I  was  sensible  of  a 
breathless  wonder  in  me  that  the  affrighted  start 
with  which  he  seemed  to  be  rising  from  the  table 
was  not  continued — that,  in  short,  he  did  not 
spring  to  his  feet  with  the  cry  that  you  seemed  to 
hear  in  his  posture. 

The  other  figure  lay  over  the  table  with  his 
face  buried  in  his  arms.  He  wore  no  covering  to 
his  head,  which  was  bald,  yet  his  hair  on  either 
side  was  plentiful  and  lay  upon  his  arms,  and  his 
beard  fluffing  up  about  his  buried  face  gave  him 
an  uncommon  shaggy  appearance.  The  other 
had  on  a  round  fur  cap  with  lappets  for  the  ears. 
His  body  was  muffled  in  a  thick  ash-coloured 
coat ;  his  hair  was  also  abundant,  curling  long 
and  black  down  his  back ;  his  cheeks  were  smooth 
manifestly  through  nature  rather  than  the  razor, 
and  the  ends  of  a  small  black  mustache  were 
twisted  up  to  his  eyes.  These  were  the  only 
occupants  of  the  cabin,  which  their  presence 
rendered  terribly  ghastly  and  strange. 

There  was  perhaps  something  in  keeping  with 
the  icy  spell  of  death  upon  this  vessel  in  the 
figure  of  the  man  who  was  bowed  over  the  table, 
for  he  looked  as  though  he  slept ;  but  the  other 
mocked  the  view  with  a  spectrum  of  the  fever  and 
passion  of  life.  You  would  have  sworn  he  had 


94  THK  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

beheld  the  skcl  hadow  reaching 

out  of  the  dimness  ior  him ;  that  he  had 
started  back  with  a  curse  and  cry  of  horror,  and 
expired  in  the  very  agony  of  his  affrighted 
recoil. 

The  interior  was  extremely  plain :  the  bulk- 
heads of  a  mahogany  colour,  the  decks  bare,  and 
nothing  in  the  form  of  an  ornament  saving  a  silver 
crucifix  hanging  by  a  nail  to  the  trunk  of  the 
mainmast,  and  a  cage  with  a  frozen  bird  of 
gorgeous  plumage  suspended  to  the  bulkhead 
near  the  hatch.  A  small  lanthorn  of  an  old 
pattern  dangled  over  the  table,  and  I  noticed  that 
it  contained  two  or  three  inches  of  candle.  -Abaft 
the  hatchway  was  a  door  on  the  starboard  side 
which  I  opened,  and  found  a  narrow  dark  passage. 
I  could  not  pierce  it  with  my  eye  beyond  a  few 
feet ;  but  perceiving  within  this  range  the  outline 
of  a  little  door,  I  concluded  that  here  were  the 
berths  in  which  the  master  and  his  mates  slept. 
There  was  nothing  to  be  done  in  the  dark,  and  I 
bitterly  lamented  that  I  had  left  my  tinder-box 
and  flint  in  the  boat,  for  then,!  could  have. lighted 
the  candle  in  the  lanthorn. 

11  Perhaps,"  thought  I,  "  one  of  those  figure*, 
may  have  a  tinder-box  upon  him." 

Custom  was  now  somewhat  hardening  me; 
moreover  I  was  spurred  on  by  mortal  anxiety  to 
discover  if  there  was  any  kind  of  food  to  be  met 
with  in  the  vessel.  So  I  stepped  up  to  the  figure 
whose  face  I  had  touched,  and  felt  in  his  pockets ; 
but  neither  on  him  nor  on  the  other  did  I  find 
what  1  wanted,  though  I  was  not  a  little  astonished 


ANOTHER  STARTLING  DISCOYBKY.          95 

to  discover  in  the  pockets  of  the  occupants  of  so 
small  and  humble  a  ship  as  this  schooner  a  fine 
gold  watch  as  rich  as  the  one  I  had  brought  away 
from  the  man  on  the  rocks,  and  more  elegant  in 
shape,  a  gold  snuffbox  set  with  diamonds,  several 
rings  of  beauty  and  value  lying  loose  in  the 
breeches  pocket  of  the  man  whose  face  was 
hidden,  a  handful  of  Spanish  pieces  in  gold, 
handkerchiefs  of  fine  silk,  and  other  articles,  as 
if  indeed  these  fellows  had  been  overhauling 
a  parcel  of  boot) ,  and  then  carelessly  returned  the 
contents  to  their  pockets. 

But  what  I  needed  was  the  means  of  obtaining 
a  light,  so,  after  casting  about,  I  thought  I  would 
search  the  body  on  deck,  and  went  to  it,  and  to 
my  great  satisfaction  discovered  what  I  wanted  in 
the  first  pocket  I  dipped  my  hand  into,  though  I 
had  to  rip  open  the  mouth  of  it  away  from  the 
snow  with  the  hanger. 

I  returned  to  the  cabin  and  lighted  the  candle, 
and  carried  the  lanthorn  into  the  black  passage  or 
corridor.  There  were  four  small  doors,  belonging 
to  as  many  berths ;  I  opened  the  first,  and  entered 
a  compartment  that  smelt  so  intolerably  stale  and 
fusty  that  I  had  to  come  into  the  passage  again 
and  fetch  a  few  breaths  to  humour  my  nose  to  the 
odour.  As  in  the  cabin,  however,  so  here  I  found 
this  noxiousness  of  air  was  not  caused  by 
putrefaction  or  any  tainting  qualities  of  a  vege- 
table or  animal  kind,  but  by  the  deadness  of  the 
pent-up  air  itself,  as  the  foulness  of  bilge  water  is 
owing  to  its  being  imprisoned  from  &ir  in  tfe* 
bottom  of  the  bold. 


$6  THE  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

I  held  up  the  lanthorn  and  looked  about  me. 
A  glance  or  two  satisfied  me  that  I  was  in  a  room 
that  had  been  appropriated  to  the  steward  and  his 
mates.      A  number    of  dark    objects,  which    on 
inspection  I  found  to  be  hams,  were  stowed  snugly 
away  in    battens    under  the    ceiling   or    upper- 
deck  ;  a  cask  half  full  of  flour  stood  in  a  corner ; 
near  it  lay  a  large  coarse  sack  in  which  was  a  quantity 
of  biscuit,  a  piece  of  which  I   bit  and  found  it  as 
hard  as  flint  and  tasteless,  but  not  in  the  least 
degree  mouldy.     There  were  four  shelves  running 
athwartships  full  of  glass,  knives  and  forks,  dishes, 
and  so  forth,  some  of  the  glass  very  choice  and 
elegant,  and  many  of  the  dishes  and  plates  also 
very  fine,   fit  for  the  greatest   nobleman's  table. 
Under  the  lower  shelf,  on  the  deck,  lay  a  sack  of 
what   I  believed  to  be  black   stones  until,  after 
turning  one  or  two  of  them  about,  it  came  upon  me 
that  they  were,  or  had  been,  I  should  say,  potatoes. 
Not  to   tease  you  with   too   many   particulars 
under  this  head,  let  me  briefly  say  that  in  this 
larder   or   steward's  room  I  found  among   other 
things  several  cheeses,  a  quantity  of  candles,  a 
great  earthenware  pot  full  of  pease,  several  pounds 
of  tobacco,  about  thirty  lemons,  along  with  two 
small  casks  and  three  or  four  jars,  manifestly  of 
spirits,  but  of  what  kind  I  could  not  tell.     I   took 
a  stout  sharp  knife  from   one  of  the   shelves,  and 
pulling  down  one  of  the  hams  tried  to  cut  it,  but 
I  might  as  well  have  striven   to  slice  a  piece  of 
marble.     I  attempted  next  to   cut  a   cheese,  but 
this  was  frozen  as  hard  as  the  ham.     The  lemons, 
candles,  and  tobacco  had  the  same  astonishing 


I  MAKE  FURTHER  DISCOVERIES,          97 

quality  of  stoniness,  and  nothing  yielded  to  the 
touch  but  the  flour.  I  laid  hold  of  one  of  the  jars, 
and  thought  to  pull  the  stopper  out,  but  it  was 
frozen  hard  in  the  hole  it  fitted,  and  I  was  five 
minutes  hammering  it  loose.  When  it  was  out  I 
inserted  a  steel — used  for  the  sharpening  of  knives 
—and  found  the  contents  solid  ice,  nor  was  there 
the  faintest  smell  to  tell  me  what  the  spirit  or  wine 
was. 

Never  before  did  plenty  offer  itself  in  so  mock- 
ing a  shape.  It  was  the  very  irony  of  abundance 
— substantial  ghostliness  and  a  Barmecide's  feast 
to  my  aching  stomach. 

But  there  was  biscuit  not  unconquerable  by 
teeth  used  to  the  fare  of  the  sea  life,  and  picking 
up  a  whole  one,  I  sat  me  down  on  the  edge  of  a 
cask  and  fell  a-munching.  One  reflection,  how- 
ever, comforted  me,  namely,  that  this  petrifaction 
by  freezing  had  kept  the  victuals  sweet  I  was 
sure  there  was  little  here  that  might  not  be  thawed 
into  relishable  and  nourishing  food  and  drink  by  a 
good  fire.  The  sight  of  these  stores  took  such  a 
weight  off  my  mind  that  no  felon  reprieved  from 
death  could  feel  more  elated  than  I.  My  fore- 
bodings had  come  to  nought  in  this  regard,  and 
here  for  the  moment  my  grateful  spirits  were 
content  to  stop. 

CHAPTER  XL 

I   MAKE    FURTHER   DISCOVERIES. 

So  long  as  I  moved  about  and  worked  I  did  not 
feel  the  cold ;  but  if  J  stood  or  sat  for  a  couple  ol 


g9  TR*  FROZE*  PIUATI. 

minutes  I  felt  the  nip  of  it  in  my  very  marrow. 
Yet,  fierce  as  the  cold  was  here,  it  wa- 
it could  be  comparable  with  the  rigours  of  the 
.parts  in  which  this  schooner  had  originally  got 
locked  up  in  the  ice.  No  doubt  if  I  died  on  deck 
my  body  would  be  frozen  as  stiff  as  the  figure  on 
the  rocks ;  but,  though  it  was  very  conceivable 
that  I  might  perish  of  cold  in  the  cabin  by  sitting 
still,  I  was  sure  the  temperature  below  had  not 
the  severity  to  stonify  me  to  the  granite  of  the 
men  at  the  table. 

Still,  though  a  greater  degree  of  cold — cold  as 
killing  as  if  the  world  had  fallen  sunless — did 
unquestionably  exist  in  those  latitudes  whence 
this  ice  with  the  schooner  in  its  hug  had  floated, 
it  was  so  bitterly  bleak  in  this  interior  that  'twas 
scarce  imaginable  it  could  be  colder  elsewhere ; 
and  as  I  rose  from  the  cask  shuddering  to  the 
heart  with  the  frosty  motionless  atmosphere,  my 
mind  naturally  went  to  the  consideration  of  a  fire 
by  which  I  might  sit  and  toast  myself. 

I  put  a  bunch  of  candles  in  my  pocket — they 
were  as  hard  as  a  parcel  of  marline-spikes — and 
took  the  lanthorn  into  the  passage  and  insp< 
the  next  room.  Here  was  a  cot  hung  up  by 
hooks,  and  a  large  black  chest  stood  in  cl 
upon  the  deck ;  some  clothes  dangled  from  pins 
in  the  bulkhead,  and  upon  a  kind  of  tray  fixed 
upon  short  legs  and  serving  as  a  shelf  were  a 
miscellaneous  bundle  of  boots,  laced  waistcoats, 
<*- corner  hats,  a  couple  of  swords,  three  or 
lour  pistols,  and  other  objects  not  very  readily 
distinguishable  by  the  candlelight  There  was  a 


II  ICAJCB  FURTHER  DISCOVERIES,  9f 

port  which  I  tried  to  open,  but  found  it  so  hard 
frozen  I  should  need  a  handspike  to  start  it. 
There  were  three  cabins  besides  this ;  the  last- 
cabin,  that  is  the  one  in  the  stern,  being  the 
biggest  of  the  lot.  Each  had  its  cot,  and  each 
also  had  its  own  special  muddle  and  litter  of 
boxes,  clothes,  firearms,  swords,  and  the  like. 

Indeed,  by  this  time  I  was  beginning  to  sec 
how  it  was.  The  suspicion  that  the  watches  and 
jewellery  I  had  discovered  on  the  bodies  of  the 
men  had  excited  was  now  confirmed,  and  I  wai 
satisfied  that  this  schooner  had  been  a  pirate  or 
buccaneer,  of  what  nationality  I  could  not  yet 
divine — methought  Spanish  from  the  costume  of 
the  first  figure  I  had  encountered  ;  and  I  was  also 
convinced  by  the  brief  glance  I  directed  at  the 
things  in  the  cabin,  particularly  the  wearing 
apparel,  and  the  make  and  appearance  of  the  fire- 
arms, that  she  must  have  been  in  this  position 
for  upwards  of  fifty  years. 

The  thought  awed  me  greatly :  twenty  years 
before  I  was  born  those  two  men  were  sitting  dead 
in  the  cabin ! — he  on  deck  was  keeping  his  blind 
and  silent  look-out;  he  on  the  rocks  with  his 
hands  locked  upon  his  knees  sat  sunk  in  blank 
and  frozen  contemplation  1 

Every  cabin  had  its  port,  and  there  were  ports 
in  the  vessel's  side  opposite ;  But  on  reflection  I 
considered  that  the  cabin  would  be  the  warmer  for 
their  remaining  closed,  and  so  I  came  away  and 
entered  the  great  cabin  afresh,  bent  on  exploring 
the  forward  pa 

I  must  tell  you  that  the  mainmast,  piercing  the 


ioo  THI  FROZEH  PIRATE. 

apper  deck,  came  down  close  against  the  bulk- 
head that  formed  the  forward  wall  of  the  cabin, 
and  on  approaching  this  partition,  the  daylight 
being  broad  enough  now  that  the  hatch  lay  open 
on  top,  I  remarked  a  sliding  door  on  the  larboard 
side  of  the  mast.  I  put  my  shoulder  to  it  and 
very  easily  ran  it  along  its  grooves,  and  then 
found  myself  in  the  way  of  a  direct  communica- 
tion with  all  the  fore  portion  of  the  schooner. 
The  arrangement  indeed  was  so  odd  that  I  sus- 
pected a  piratical  device  in  this  uncommon  method 
of  opening  out  at  will  the  whole  range  of  deck. 
The  air  here  was  as  vile  as  in  the  cabins,  and  I 
had  to  wait  a  bit. 

On  entering  I  discovered  a  little  compartment 
with  racks  on  either  hand  filled  with  small-arms. 
I  afterwards  counted  a  hundred  and  thirteen 
muskets,  blunderbusses,  and  fusils,  all  oi 
antique  kind,  whilst  the  sides  of  the  vessel  were 
hung  with  pistols  great  and  little,  boarding-pikes, 
cutlasses,  hangers,  and  other  sorts  of  sword. 
This  armoury  was  a  sight  to  set  me  walking  very 
cautiously,  for  it  was  not  likely  that  powder  should 
be  wanting  in  a  ship  thus  equipped  ;  and  where 
was  it  stowed  ? 

There  was  another  sliding  door  in  the  forward 
partition ;  it  stood  open,  and  I  passed  through  it 
into  what  I  immediately  saw  was  the  cook-house. 
I  turned  the  lanthorn  about,  and  discovered  every 
convenience  for  dressing  food.  The  furnaces 
were  of  brick  and  the  oven  was  a  great  one- 
great,  I  mean,  for  the  size  of  the  vessel.  There 
were  pots,  pans,  and  kettles  in  plenty,  a  dresser 


I  MAKB  FURTHER  DISCOTORBB.         ior 

with  drawers,  dishes  of  tin  and  earthenware,  a 
Dutch  clock — in   short,  such  an   equipment   of 
kitchen  furniture  as  you  would  not  expect  to  find 
in  the  galley  of  an  Indiaman  built  to  carry  two  or 
three  hundred  passengers.     About  half  a  chaldron 
of   small   coal  lay  heaped  in  a  wooden  angular 
fence  fitted  to  the  ship's  side,  for  the  sight  of 
which  I  thanked  God.     I  held  the  lanthorn  to 
the   furnace,   and  observed  a  crooked  chimney 
rising  to  the  deck  and  passing  through  it.     The 
mouth  or  head  of  it  was  no  doubt  covered  by  the 
snow,  for  I  had  not  noticed  any  such  object  in  the 
survey  I  had  taken  of  the  vessel  above.     Strange, 
I  thought,  that  these  men  should  have  frozen  to 
death  with  the  material  in  the  ship  for  keeping  a 
fire  going.     But  then  my  whole  discovery  I  re- 
garded as  one  of  those  secrets  of  the  deep  which 
defy  the  utmost  imagination  and  experience  of 
man  to  explain  them.     Enough  that  here  was  a 
schooner  which  had  been  interred  in  a  sepulchre 
of  ice,  as  I  might  rationally  conclude,  for  near 
half  a  century,  that  there  were  dead  men  in  her 
who  looked  to  have  been  frozen  to  death,  that  she 
was  apparently  stored  with  miscellaneous  booty, 
that  she  was  powerfully  armed  for  a  craft  of  her 
size,  and  had  manifestly  gone  crowded  with  mem 
All  this  was  plain,  and  I  say  it  was  enough  for  me. 
If  she  had  papers  they  were  to  be  met  with  pre- 
sently ;    otherwise,    conjecture    would    be    mere 
imbecility  in  the  face  of  those  white  and  frost- 
bound  countenances  and  iron  silent  lips. 

I  thrust  back  another  sliding  door  and  entered 
the  ship's  forecastle.    The  ceiling,  as  I  choose 


*«*r  TH»  FROZEN 

la  call  the  upper  deck,  WA-  hammocks, 

the  floor  was  co\  bedding, 

(es,  and  I  know  not  what  else.     The   rir 

of  the  wind  on  high  did  not  disturb  the  still i 

and  I  cannot  convey  the  impression  produced  on 

my  mind  by  this  extraordinary  scene  of  confusion 

beheld  amid  the  silence  of  that  tomblike  interior. 

1  stood  in  the  doorway,  not  having  the  courage  to 

venture  further.     For  all  I  knew  many   of  those 

hammocks  might  be  tenanted  ;  for  as  this  kind  of 

bed  expresses  by  its  curvature  the  rounded  shape 

of  a  seaman,  whether  it  be  empty  or  not,  so  it   is 

impossible  by  merely  looking  to  know  whether  it 

is    occupied  or  vacant.     The  dismalness  of  the 

1  was  of  course  vastly  exaggerated  by  the 

e  light  of  the  candle,  which,  swaying  in   my 

hand,    flung   a  swarming  of    shadows  upon   the 

e,  through  which  the  hammocks  glimmered 

wan  and  melancholy. 

I  c  iy  in  a  fright,  sliding  the  door  to  in 

'uirry  with  a  bang  that  fetched  a  groaning 
echo  out  of  the  hold.  If  this  ship  were  haunted, 
the  •  >  ould  be  the  abode  of  the  spirits  ! 

sore  1  could  make  a   fire  the  chimney  must 
red.     Among  the  furniture  in  the  arms- 
Toon  r  of  spade-headed  spears  ;  the 

is  the  length  of  a  man's  thumb,  and 
about  a  foot  long,  mounted  on  light  thin  wood. 
Armed  with  one  of  these  weapons,  the  like  of 
which  is  to  be  met  with  among  certain  South 
American  tribes,  I  passed  into  the  cabin  to  pro- 
ceed on  deck  ;  but  though  I  knew  the  two  figures 
there,  the  coming  upon  them  afresh  struck 


1  MAKB  FURTHER  DISCOVERIES.         103 

me  with  as  much  astonishment  and  alarm  as  if 
I  had  not  before  seen  them.  The  man  starting 
from  the  table  confronted  me  on  this  entrance,  and 
I  stopped  dead  to  that  astounding  living  posture 
of  terror,  even  recoiling,  as  though  he  were  alive 
indeed,  and  was  jumping  up  from  the  table  in  his 
amazement  at  my  apparition. 

The-brilliance  of  the  snow  was  very  striking  after 
the  dusk  of  the  interiors  I  had  been  penetrating. 
The  glare  seemed  like  a  blaze  of  white  sunshine  ; 
yet  it  was  the  dazzle  of  the  ice  and  nothing  more 
for  the  sun  was  hidden ;  the  fairness  of  the 
morning  was  passed ;  the  sky  was  lead-coloured 
down  to  the  ocean  line,  with  a  quantity  of  smoke- 
brown  scud  flying  along  it.  The  change  had 
been  rapid,  as  it  always  is  hereabouts.  The  wind 
screamed  with  a  piercing  whistling  sound  through 
the  frozen  rigging,  splitting  in  wails  and  bounding 
in  a  roar  upon  the  adamantine  peak?  .md  rocks  ;. 
the  cracking  of  the  ice  was  loud,  continuous,  and 
mighty  startling;  and  these  sounds,  combined 
with  the  thundering  of  the  sea  and  the  fierce 
hissing  of  its  rushing  yeast,  gave  the  weather  the 
character  of  a  storm,  though  as  yet  it  was  no 
more  than  a  fresh  gale. 

However,  though  it  was  frightful  to  be  alone 
in  this  frozen  vault,  with  no  other  society  than 
that  of  the  dead,  not  even  a  seafowl  to  put  life 
into  the  scene,  I  could  not  but  feel  that,  be  my 
prospects  what  they  might,  for  the  moment  I  was 
safe — that  is  to  say,  I  was  immeasurably  securer 
than  ever  I  could  have  been  in  the  boat,  which, 
when  I  had  emerged  into  this  stormy  sound  and 


104  TH*  FRCWIM  PIIATB. 

realized  the  sea  that  was  running  outside,  I 
instantly  thought  of  with  a  shudder.  Had  the 
rock,  I  mused,  not  fallen  and  liberated  the  boat, 
where  should  I  be  now  ?  Perhaps  floating,  a 
corpse,  fathoms  deep  under  water,  or,  if  alive,  then 
flying  before  this  gale  into  the  south,  ever  widening 
the  distance  betwixt  me  and  all  chance  of  my 
deliverance,  and  every  hour  gauging  more  deeply 
the  horrible  cold  of  the  pole.  Indeed  I  began 
to  understand  that  I  had  been  mercifully  diverted 
from  courting  a  hideous  fate,  and  my  spirits  rose 
with  the  emotion  of  gratitude  and  hope  that  attends 
upon  preservation 

I  speedily  spied  the  chimney,  which  showed  a 
head  of  two  feet  above  the  deck,  and  made  short 
work  of  the  snow  that  was  frozen  in  it,  as  nothing 
could  have  been  fitter  to  cut  ice  with  than  the 
spade-shaped  weapon  I  carried.  This  done,  I 
returned  to  the  cook-room,  and  with  a  butcher's 
axe  that  hung  against  the  bulk-head  I  knocked 
away  one  of  the  boards  that  confined  the  coal, 
split  it  into  small  pieces,  and  in  a  short  time  had 
kindled  a  good  fire.  One  does  not  need  the 
experience  of  being  cast  away  upon  an  iceberg  to 
understand  the  comfort  of  a  fire.  I  had  a  mind 
to  be  prodigal,  and  threw  a  good  deal  of  coals 
into  the  furnace,  and  presently  had  a  noble  blaze. 
The  heat  was  exquisite.  I  pulled  a  little  bench, 
after  the  pattern  of  those  on  which  the  men  sat 
in  the  cabin,  to  the  fire,  and,  with  outstret< 
legs  ,'ind  arms,  thawed  out  of  me  the  frost 
had  lain  taut  in  my  flesh  ever  since  the  wreck  of 
the  Laughing  Mary.  When  I  was  thoroughly 


I    MAKB    FURTHER   DlSCOYttltt.  IO| 

warm  and  comforted  I  took  the  lanthorn  and  went 
aft  to  the  steward's  room,  and  brought  thence  a 
cheese,  a  ham,  some  biscuit,  and  one  of  the  jars 
of  spirits,  all  which  I  carried  to  the  cook-room,  and 
placed  the  whole  of  them  in  the  oven.  I  was 
extremely  hungry  and  thirsty,  and  the  warmth 
and  cheerfulness  of  the  fire  set  me  yearning  for  a 
hot  meal.  Put  how  was  I  to  make  a  bowl  without 
fresh  water?  I  went  on  deck  and  scratched  up 
some  snow,  but  the  salt  in  it  gave  it  a  sickly  taste, 
and  I  was  not  only  certain  it  would  spoil  and 
make  disgusting  whatever  I  mixed  it  with  or 
cooked  in  it,  but  it  stood  as  a  drink  to  disorder 
my  stomach  and  bring  on  an  illness.  So,  thought 
I  to  myself,  there  must  be  fresh  water  about — 
casks  enough  in  the  hold,  I  dare  say ;  but  the 
hold  was  not  to  be  entered  and  explored  without 
labour  and  difficulty,  and  I  was  weary  and  famished, 
and  in  no  temper  for  hard  work. 

In  all  ships  it  is  the  custom  to  carry  one  or 
more  casks  called  scuttlebutts  on  deck,  into  which 
fresh  water  is  pumped  for  the  use  of  the  crew.  I 
stepped  along  looking  earnestly  at  the  several 
shapes  of  guns,  coils  of  rigging,  hatchways,  and 
the  like,  upon  which  the  snow  lay  thick  and  solid, 
sometimes  preserving  the  mould  of  the  object  it 
covered,  sometimes  distorting  and  exaggerating  it 
into  an  unrecognizable  outline,  but  perceived 
nothing  that  answered  to  the  shape  of  a  cask. 
At  last  I  came  to  the  well  in  the  head,  passed  the 
forecastle  deck,  and  on  looking  down  spied  among 
other  shapes  three  bulged  and  bulky  forms.  1 
seemed  by  instinct  to  know  that  these  were  \k* 


Tint  Pftounr  FTJUTB. 

scuttlebutts  and  went  for  the  chopper,  with  which 
I  returned  and  got  into  this  hollow,  that  was  four 
or  five  feet  deep.  The  snow  had  the  hardness  of 
iron  ;  it  took  me  a  quarter  of  an  hour  of  severe 
labour  to  make  sure  of  the  character  of  the  bulky 
thing  I  wrought  at,  and  then  it  proved  to  be  a 
cask.  Whatever  might  be  its  contents  it  was  not 
empty,  but  I  was  pretty  nigh  spent  by  the  time  I 
had  knocked  off  the  iron  bands  and  beaten  out 
staves  enough  to  enable  me  to  get  at  the  frozen 
body  within.  There  were  three-quarters  of  a  cask 
full.  It  was  sparkling  clear  ice,  and  chipping  off 
a  piece  and  sucking  it,  I  found  it  to  be  very  sweet 
fresh  water.  Thus  was  my  labour  rewarded. 

I  cut  off  as  much  as,  when  dissolved,  would 
make  a  couple  of  gallons,  but  stayed  a  minute  to 
regain  my  breath  and  take  a  view  of  this  well  or 
hollow  before  going  aft.  It  was  formed  of  the 
great  open  head-timbers  of  the  schooner  curving 
up  to  the  stem,  and  by  the  forecastle  deck  ending 
like  a  cuddy  front.  I  scraped  at  this  front  and 
removed  enough  snow  to  exhibit  a  portion  of  a 
window.  It  was  by  this  window  I  supposed  that 
the  forecastle  was  lighted.  Out  of  this  well  forked 
the  bowsprit,  with  the  spritsail  yard  braced  fore 
and  aft.  The  whole  fabric  close  to  looked  more 
like  glass  than  at  a  distance,  owing  to  the  million 
crystalline  sparkles  of  the  ice-like  snow  that 
coated  the  structure  from  the  vane  at  the  masthead 
to  the  keel. 

Well,  I  clambered  on  to  the  forecastle  deck  and 
returned  to  the  cook-room  with  my  piece  of  ice, 
stnick  as  1  went  along  by  the  sudden  comfortable 


I    MAKB   FUfcTHER   DlSOOVnUBS.  1O7 

quality  of  life  the  gushing  of  the  black  smoke  out 
of  the  chimney  put  into  the  ship,  and  how,  indeed, 
it  seemed  to  soften   as  if  by  magic    the  savage 
wildness  and   haggard   austerity  and   gale-swept 
loneliness  of  the  white  rocks  and  peaks.     It  was 
extremely  disagreeable  and  disconcerting  to  me 
to  have  to  pass  the  ghastly  occupants  of  the  cabin 
every  time  I  went  in  and  out ;  and  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  get  them  on  deck  when  I  felt  equal  to 
the  work,  and  cover  them  up  there.     The  slanting 
posture  of  the  one  was  a  sort  of  fierce  rebuke; 
the  sleeping  attitude  of  the  other  was  a  dark  and 
sullen  enjoinment  of  silence.    I  never  passed  them 
without  a  quick  beat  of  the  heart  and  shortened 
breathing ;  and  the  more  I  looked   at  them  the 
keener  became  the  superstitious  alarm  they  excited. 
The  fire  burned  brightly,  and  its   ruddy  glow 
was  sweet  as  human  companionship.     I  put  the 
ice  into  a  saucepan  and  set  it  upon  the  fire,  and 
then  pulling  the  cheese7  and  ham  out  of  the  oven 
found  them  warm  and  thawed.     On  smelling  to 
the  mouth  of  the  jar  I  discovered  its  contents  to 
be  brandy.1     Only  about  an  inch  deep  of  it  was 
melted.     I  pourea  this  into  a  pannikin  and  took  a 
sup,  and  a  finer  drop  of  spirits  I  never  swallowed 
in   all   my  life;    its   elegant    perfume   proved   it 
amazingly  choice  and  old.     I  fetched  a  lemon  and 
some  sugar  and  speedily  prepared  a  small  smoking 

1  I  can  give  the  reader  no  better  idea  of  the  cold  of  the 
latitudes  in  which  this  schooner  had  lain,  than  by  ipeakint 
of  the  brandy  as  being  frozen.  This  may  hav*  hmppeD*d 
tiuough  its  having  kwt  twenty  or  thirty  pa  cart,  of  to 
&. 


IOS  THI  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

bowl  of  punch.  The  ham  cut  readily ;  !  fried  a 
couple  of  stout  rashers,  and  fell  to  the  heartiest 
and  most  delicious  repast  I  ever  sat  down  to.  At 
any  time  there  is  something  fragrant  and  appe- 
tizing in  the  smell  of  fried  ham ;  conceive  then  the 
relish  that  the  appetite  of  a  starved,  half-frozen, 
shipwrecked  man  would  find  in  it !  The  cheese 
was  extremely  good,  and  was  as  sound  as  if  it  had 
been  made  a  week  ago.  Indeed,  the  preservative 
virtues  of  the  cold  struck  me  with  astonishment. 
Here  was  I  making  a  fine  meal  off  stores  which 
in  all  probability  had  lain  in  this  ship  fifty  years, 
and  they  ate  as  choicely  as  like  food  of  a  similar 
quality  ashore.  Possibly  some  of  these  days 
science  may  devise  a  means  for  keeping  the 
stores  of  a  ship  frozen,  which  would  be  as  great  a 
blessing  as  could  befall  the  mariner,  and  a  sure 
remedy  for  the  scurvy,  for  then  as  much  fresh 
meat  might  be  carried  as  salt,  besides  other 
articles  of  a  perishable  kind. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

A   LONELY   NIGHT. 

I  HAD  a  pipe  of  my  own  in  my  pocket ;  I  fetched 
a  small  block  of  the  black  tobacco  that  was  in 
the  pantry,  and,  with  some  trouble,  for  it  was  as 
hard  and  dry  as  glass,  chipped  off  a  bowlful  and 
fell  a-puffing  with  all  the  satisfaction  of  a  hardened 
lover  of  tobacco  who  has  long  been  denied  his 
favourite  relish.  The  punch  diffused  a  pleasing 
glow  through  my  frame,  the  tobacco  was  lulling, 


A  LOKELY  NIGHT.  109 

the  heat  of  the  fire  very  soothing,  the  hearty  meal 
1  had  eaten  had  also  marvellously  invigorated  me, 
so  that  I  found  my  mind  in  a  posture  to  justly  and 
rationally  consider  my  condition,  and  to  reason 
out  such  probabilities  as  seemed  to  be  attached 
to  it. 

First  of  all  I  reflected  that  by  the  usual  opera- 
tion of  natural  laws  this  vast  seat  of "  thrilling  and 
thick-ribbed  ice  "  in  which  the  schooner  lay  bound 
was  steadily  travelling  to  the  northward,  where  in 
due  course  it  would  dissolve,  though  that  would 
not  happen  yet.  But  as  it  advanced  so  would  it 
carry  me  nearer  to  the  pathways  of  ships  using 
these  seas,  and  any  day  might  disclose  a  sail  near 
enough  to  observe  such  signals  of  smoke  or  flag 
as  I  might  best  contrive.  But  supposing  no 
opportunity  of  this  kind  to  offer,  then  1  ought  to 
be  able  to  find  in  the  vessel  materials  fit  for  the 
construction  of  a  boat,  if,  indeed,  I  met  not  with 
a  pinnace  of  her  own  stowed  under  the  main-hatch, 
for  there  was  certainly  no  boat  on  deck.  Nay, 
my  meditations  even  carried  me  further :  this  was 
the  winter  season  of  the  southern  hemisphere, 
but  presently  the  sun  would  be  coming  my  way, 
whilst  the  ice,  on  the  other  hand,  floated  towards 
him  ;  if  by  the  wreck  and  dissolution  of  the  island 
the  schooner  was  not  crushed,  she  must  be 
released,  in  which  case,  providing  she  was  tight — 
and  my  brief  inspection  of  her  bottom  showed 
nothing  wrong  with  her  that  was  visible  through 
the  shroud  of  snow — I  should  have  a  stout  ship 
under  me  in  which  I  would  be  able  to  lie  hoye 
to,  or  even  make  shift  to  sail  her  if  the  breeit 


n«  Tm  Piaa*  PI&ATK. 

cmme  from  tfce  •outii,  and  thus  take  my  chance  of 
being  sighted  and  discovered. 

Much,  I  had  almost  said  everything,  depended 
on  the  quantity  of  provisions  I  should  find  in  her 
and  particularly  on  the  stock  of  coal,  for  I  feared 
I  must  perish  if  I  had  not  a  fire.  But  there  was 
the  hold  to  be  explored  yet;  the  navigation  of 
these  waters  must  have  been  anticipated  by  the 
men  of  the  schooner,  who  were  sure  to  make 
handsome  provision  for  the  cold — and  the  surer 
if,  as  I  fancied,  they  were  Spaniards.  Certainly 
they  might  have  exhausted  their  stock  of  coal, 
but  I  could  not  persuade  myself  of  this,  since 
the  heap  in  the  corner  of  the  cook-room  somehow 
or  other  was  suggestive  of  a  store  behind. 

I  knew  not  yet  whether  more  of  the  crew  lay  in 
the  forecastle,  but  so  far  I  had  encountered  four 
men  only.  If  these  were  all,  then  I  had  a  right 
to  believe,  grounding  my  fancy  on  the  absence  of 
boats,  that  most  of  the  company  had  quitted  the 
ship,  and  this  they  would  have  done  early — a 
supposition  that  promised  me  a  fair  discovery  of 
stores.  Herein  lay  my  hope ;  if  I  could  prolong 
my  life  for  three  or  four  months,  then,  if  the  ice 
svas  not  all  gone,  it  would  have  advanced  far  north, 
serving  me  as  a  ship  and  putting  me  in  the  way  of 
delivering  myself,  either  by  the  sight  of  a  sail,  or. 
by  the  schooner  floating  free,  or  by  my  construc- 
tion of  a  boat. 

Thus  I  sat  musing,  as  I  venture  to  think,  in  a 
clearheaded  way.  Yet  all  the  same  I  could  not 
glance  around  without  feeling  as  if  I  was  bewitched. 
The  red  shining  of  the  furnace  ruddily  gilded  the 


A  LOWB.T  NIGHT.  ill 

cook-house ;  through  the  after-sliding  door  went 
the  passage  to  the  cabin  in  blackness;  the 
storming  of  the  wind  was  subdued  into  a  strange 
moaning  and  complaining ;  often  through  the 
body  of  the  ship  came  the  thrill  of  a  sudden 
explosion ;  and  haunting  all  was  the  sense  of  the 
dead  men  just  without,  the  frozen  desolation  of 
the  island,  the  mighty  world  of  waters  in  which 
it  lay.  No!  you  can  think  of  no  isolation 
comparable  to  this ;  and  I  tremble  as  I  review 
it,  for  under  the  thought  of  the  enormous  loneli- 
ness of  that  time  my  spirit  must  ever  sink  and 
break  down. 

It  was  melancholy  to  be  without  time,  so  ! 
pulled  out  the  gold  watch  I  had  taken  from 
the  man  on  the  rocks  and  wound  it  up,  and 
guessing  at  the  hour,  set  the  hands  at  half-past 
tour.  The  watch  ticked  bravely.  It  was  indeed 
a  noble  piece  of  mechanism,  very  costly  and 
glorious  with  its  jewels,  and  more  than  a  hint  as 
to  the  character  of  this  schooner ;  and  had  there 
been  nothing  else  to  judge  by  I  should  still  have 
sworn  to  her  by  this  watch. 

My  pipe  being  emptied,  I  threw  some  more 
coals  into  the  furnace,  and  putting  a  candle  in  the 
lanthorn  went  aft  to  take  another  view  of  the  little 
cabins,  in  one  of  which  I  resolved  to  sleep,  for 
though  the  cook-room  would  have  served  me  best 
whilst  the  fire  burned,  I  reckoned  upon  it  making  a 
colder  habitation  when  the  furnace  was  black  than 
those  small  compartments  in  the  stern.  The  cold 
on  deck  gushed  down  so  bitingly  through  the 
open  companion-hatch  that  I  was  fain  to  close  it. 


Hi  THB  Flea**  PIEATB. 

I  mounted  the  steps,  and  with  much  ado  shipped 
the  cover  and  shut  the  door,  by  which  of  course 
the  great  cabin,  as  I  call  the  room  in  which  the 
two  men  were,  was  plunged  in  darkness ;  but  the 
cold  was  not  tolerable,  and  the  parcels  of  candles 
in  the  larder  rendered  me  indifferent  to  the 
gloom. 

On  entering  the  passage  in  which  were  the 
doors  of  the  berths,  I  noticed  an  object  that  had 
before  escaped  my  observation — I  mean  a  small 
trap-hatch,  no  bigger  than  a  manhole,  with  a  ring 
for  lifting  it,  midway  down  the  lane.  I  suspected 
this  to  be  the  entrance  to  the  lazarette,  and 
putting  both  hands  to  the  ring  pulled  the  hatch 
up.  I  sniffed  cautiously,  fearing  foul  air,  and  then 
sinking  the  lanthorn  by  the  length  of  my  arm  I 
peered  down,  and  observed  the  outlines  of  casks, 
bales,  cases  of  white  wood,  chests,  and  so  forth. 
I  dropped  through  the  hole  on  to  a  cask,  which  left 
me  my  head  and  shoulders  above  the  deck,  and 
then  with  the  utmost  caution  stooped  and  threw 
the  lanthorn  light  around  me.  But  the  casks 
were  not  powder-barrels,  which  perhaps  a  little 
reflection  might  have  led  me  to  suspect,  since  it 
was  not  to  be  supposed  that  any  man  would  stow 
his  powder  in  the  lazarette. 

As  I  was  in  the  way  of  settling  my  misgivings 
touching  the  stock  of  food  in  the  schooner,  I 
resolved  to  push  through  with  this  business  at 
once,  and  fetching  the  chopper  went  to  work  upon 
these  barrels  and  chests ;  and  very  briefly  I  will 
tell  you  what  I  found.  First,  I  dealt  with  a  tierce 
that  proved  full  of  salt  beef.  There  was  a  whole 


A  LONELY  NIGHT.  113 

row  of  these  tierces,  and  one  sufficed  to  express 
the  nature  of  the  rest;  there  were  upwards  of 
thirty  barrels  of  pork ;  one  canvas  bale  I  ripped 
open  was  full  of  hams,  and  of  these  bales 
counted  half  a  score.  The  white  cases  held 
biscuit.  There  were  several  sacks  of  pease,  a 
number  of  barrels  of  flour,  cases  of  candles, 
cheeses,  a  quantity  of  tobacco,  not  to  mention  a 
variety  of  jars  of  several  shapes,  some  of  which 
I  afterwards  found  to  contain  marmalade  and 
succadoes  of  different  kinds.  On  knocking  the 
head  off  one  cask  I  found  it  held  a  frozen 
body,  that  by  the  light  of  the  lanthorn  looked  as 
black  as  ink ;  I  chipped  off  a  bit,  sucked  it,  and 
found  it  wine. 

I  was  so  transported  by  the  sight  of  this  wonder- 
ful plenty  that  I  fell  upon  my  knees  in  an  outburst 
of  gratitude  and  gave  hearty  thanks  to  God  for 
His  mercy.  There  was  no  further  need  for  me  to 
dismally  wonder  whether  I  was  to  starve  or  no  ; 
supposing  the  provisions  sweet,  here  was  food 
enough  to  last  me  three  or  four  years.  I  was  so 
overjoyed  and  withal  curious  that  I  forgot  all 
about  the  time,  and  flourishing  the  chopper  made 
the  round  of  the  lazarette,  sampling  its  freight  by 
individual  instances,  so  that  by  the  time  I  was 
tired  I  had  enlarged  the  list  I  have  given,  by 
discoveries  of  brandy,  beer,  oatmeal,  oil,  lemons, 
tongues,  vinegar,  rum,  and  eight  or  ten  other 
matters,  all  stowed  very  bunglingly,  and  in  so 
many  different  kinds  of  casks,  cases,  jars,  and 
other  vessels  as  disposed  me  to  believe  that 
several  piratical  rummagings  must  have  gone  to 


114  T*1  FROM*  Fit  ATI. 

the  creation  of  this  handsome  and  plentiful  stock 
of  good  things. 

Well,  thought  I,  even  if  there  be  no  more  coal 
in   the   ship  than  what  lies   in   the   cook- IK 
enough  fuel  is  here  in  the  shape  of  casks,  b< 
and  the  like  to  thaw  me  provisions  for  six  monihs, 
besides  what   I   may   come  across  in   the  hold, 
along  with  the   hammocks,  bedding,  boxes,  and 
so  forth    in   the   forecastle,  all  which  would    be 
good  to  feed  my   fire   with.      This  was  a  most 
comforting    reflection,   and    I    recollect    spring- 
ing  out   through   the    lazarette    hatch    wit! 
spirited  a  caper  as  ever  I  had  cut  at  any  time  in. 
my  life. 

I  replaced  the  hatch-cover,  and  having  resoi 
upon  the  aft  most  of  the  four  cabins  as  my  bed- 
room, entered  it  to  see  what  kind  of  accommoda- 
tion it  would  yield  me.     I  hung  up  the  lanthorn  and 
looked  into  the  cot,  that  was  slung  athwartships 
spied  a  couple  of  rugs  or  blankets,  which  I  pulled 
out.  having  no  fancy  to  lie  under  them.     The  deck 
was  like  an  old  clothes'  shop,  or  the  wardrobe  o! 
a  travelling  troop  of  actors.     From  the  confu 
in  this  and  the  adjoining  cabins,  I  concluded  thru 
there  had  been   a  rush  at   the  last,  a  wild  u 
hauling  and  flinging  about  of  clothes  for  articles 
of  more  value  hidden  amongst   them.     But  just 
as  likely  as  not  the  disorder  merely  indicated  the 
slovenly  indifference  of  plunderers  ^o  the  frui 
a  pillage  that  had  <  ked  th< 

The  first  garment  I  -  a  cloak 

a  sort  of  silk  material,  rich!)  furred  and  !i 
the  buttons  but  one  had  been  cut  oil",  and  that 


A  LOVXLY  Nwnrr.  115 

which  remained  was  silver,  i  spread  k  in  die 
cot,  as  it  was  a  soft  thing  to  lie  upon.  Then  I 
picked  up  a  coat  of  the  fashion  you  will  see  in 
Hogarth's  engravings  ;  the  coat  collar  a  broad 
fold,  and  the  cuffs  to  the  elbow.  This  was  as 
good  as  a  rug,  and  I  put  it  into  the  cot  with  the 
other.  I  inspected  others  of  the  articles  on  the 
deck,  and  among  them  recollect  a  gold-laced 
waistcoat  of  green  velvet,  two  or  three  pairs  of 
high-heeled  shoes,  a  woman's  yellow  sacque, 
several  frizzled  wigs,  silk  stockings,  pumps — in 
fine,  the  contents  of  the  trunks  of  some  dandy 
passengers,  long  since  gathered  to  their  forefathers 
no  doubt,  even  if  the  gentlemen  of  this  schooner 
had  not  then  and  there  walked  them  overboard  or 
split  their  windpipes.  But,  to  be  honest,  I  cannot 
remember  a  third  of  what  lay  tumbled  upon  the 
deck  or  hung  against  the  bulkhead.  So  far  as 
my  knowledge  of  costume  went,  every  article 
pointed  to  the  date  which  I  had  fixed  upon  for 
this  vessel. 

I  swept  the  huddle  of  things  with  my  foot  into 
a  corner,  and  lifting  the  lids  of  the  boxes  saw 
more  clothes,  some  books,  a  collection  of  small- 
arms,  a  couple  of  quadrants,  and  sundry  rolls  of 
paper  which  proved  to  be  charts  of  the  islands  of 
the  Antilles  and  the  western  South  American  coast, 
very  ill-digested.  There  were  no  papers  of  any 
kind  to  determine  the  vessel's  character,  nor 
journal  to  acquaint  me  with  her  story. 

I  was  tired  in  my  limbs  rather  than  sleepy,  and 
went  to  the  cook-room  to  warm  myself  at  the  fire 
and  get  me  some  supper,  meaning  to  sit  there  till 


n6  THI  FROZEN  PIIUTB, 

the  fire  died  out  and  then  go  to  rest ;  but  when  I 
put  my  knife  to  the  ham  I  found  it  as  hard  frozen 
as  when  I  had  first  met  with  it ;  so  with  the 
cheese ;  and  this  though  there  had  been  a  fire 
burning  for  hours !  I  put  the  things  into  the  oven 
to  thaw  as  before,  and  sitting  down  fell  very  pen- 
sive over  this  severity  of  cold,  which  had  power  to 
freeze  within  a  yard  or  two  of  the  furnace.  To  be 
sure  the  fire  by  my  absence  had  shrunk,  and  the 
sliding  door  being  open  admitted  the  cold  of  the 
cabin ;  but  the  consideration  was,  how  was  I  to 
resist  the  killing  enfoldment  of  this  atmosphere  ? 
I  had  slept  in  the  boat,  it  is  true,  and  was  none  the 
worse ;  and  now  I  was  under  shelter,  with  the  heat 
of  a  plentiful  bellyful  of  meat  and  liquor  to  warm 
me ;  but  if  wine  and  ham  and  cheese  froze  in  an 
air  in  which  a  fire  had  been  burning,  why  not  I  in 
my  sleep,  when  there  was  no  fire,  and  life  beat 
weakly,  as  it  does  in  slumber?  Those  figures  in 
the  cabin  were  dismal  warnings  and  assurances  ; 
they  had  been  men  perhaps  stouter  and  heartier 
in  their  day  than  ever  I  was,  but  they  had  been 
frozen  into  stony  images  nevertheless,  under 
cover  too,  with  the  materials  to  make  a  fire,  and 
as  much  strong  waters  in  their  lazarette  as  would 
serve  their  schooner  to  float  in. 

Well,  thought  I,  after  a  spell  of  melancholy 
thinking,  if  I  am  to  perish  of  cold,  there's  an  end ; 
it  is  preordained,  arid  it  is  as  easy  as  drowning, 
anyhow,  and  better  than  hanging ;  and  with  that 
I  pulled  out  the  ham  and  found  it  soft  enough 
to  cut,  finding  philosophy  (which,  as  the  French 
cynic  says,  triumphs  over  past  and  future  ills) 


A  LOHBLT  NIOB*. 

not  so  hard  because  somehow  I  did  not  myself 

then  particularly  feel  the  cold— I  mean,  I  was  not 
certainly  suffering  here  from  that  pain  of  frost 
which  I  had  felt  in  the  open  boat 

Having  heartily  supped,  I  brewed  a  pint  ol 
punch,  and,  charging  my  pipe,  sat  smoking  with 
my  feet  against  the  furnace.  It  was  after  eight 
o'clock  by  the  watch  I  was  wearing.  I  knew 
by  the  humming  noise  that  it  was  blowing  a  gale 
of  wind  outside,  and  from  time  to  time  the  decks 
rattled  to  a  heavy  discharge  of  hail.  All  sounds 
were  naturally  much  subdued  to  my  ear  by  the 
ship  lying  in  a  hollow,  and  I  being  in  her  with  the 
hatches  closed ;  but  this  very  faintness  of  uproar 
formed  of  itself  a  quality  of  mystery  very  pat  to 
the  ghastliness  of  mv  surroundings.  It  was  like 
the  notes  of  an  elfin  storm  of  necromantic 
imagination  ;  it  was  hollow,  weak,  and  terrifying ; 
and  it  and  the  thunder  of  the  seas  commingling, 
together  with  the  rumbling  blasts  and  shocks  of 
splitting  ice,  disjointed  as  by  an  earthquake,  loaded 
the  inward  silence  with  unearthly  tones,  which 
my  lonely  and  Quickened  imagination  readily 
furnished  with  syllables.  The  lanthorn  diffused 
but  a  small  light,  and  the  flickering  of  the  fire 
made  a  movement  of  shadows  about  me.  I  was 
separated  from  the  great  cabin  where  the  figures 
were  by  the  little  arms-room  only,  and  the  passage 
to  it  ran  there  in  blackness. 

It  strangely  and  importunately  entered  my  head 
to  conceive,  that  though  those  men  were  frozen 
and  stirless  they  were  not  dead  as  corpses  are; 
Hut  as  a  stream  whose  current,  checked  by  ice, 


|lj*  THI  FROZEN  PXIATB. 

will  flow  wi  is  melted.     Might  not  life 

'm  the'1  J  by  the  cold,  not  ended  ? 

rhcre_ii  in  the  seed  though  it  lies  a  dead 

thing  in  the  hand.     Those  men  are  corpses  to  my 

,  but   said    I   to   myself,  they  may  have  the 

ciples  of  life  in  them,  which  heat  might  call 

•ig.     Putrefaction  is  a  natural  law,  but  it 

balked  by  frost,  and  just  as  decay  is  hindered 

by  cold,  might  not  the  property  of  life  be  left  un- 

afTected  in  a  body,  though  it  should  be  numbed  in  a 

marble  form  for  fifty  years  ? 

This  ^  was  a  terrible  fancy   to  possess  a    man 
situated  as  1  was.  and  it  so  worked  in  me  that  again 
and  again  I  caught  myself  looking  first  forward, 
then  aft,  as  though,  Heaven  help  me  !  my  secret 
instincts  foreboded  that  at  any  moment  I  should 
behold    some   form    from  the   forecastle,   or  one 
of   those   figures  in    the   cabin,  stalking  in,  and 
coming  to  my  side  and  silently  seating  himself.     I 
pshaw'd  and  pish'd,  and  querulously  asked  of  my- 
self what  manner  of  E  ulor  was  I  to  suffer 
such  womanly  terrors  to  visit  me;    but  it  would 
<io;   I  could  not   smoke;  a  coldness  of  the 
11  upon  me,  and  set  me  trembling  above 
of  shivers  which  the  frost  of  the  air  had 
hrough  me  ;  and  presently  a  hollow  creak 
;  out  of  the  hold,  caused  by  some  move- 
the  bed  of  ice  on  which  the  vessel  lay,  I 
was  seized  with  a  panic  terror  and  sprang  to  my 
I,   lanthorn  r  the  corn- 
pan  i 

i  durst  not  look  at  i  he  figures,  but,  setting  the 


A  LONELY  NIGHT.  iif 

light  down  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder,  squeezed 
through  the  companion-door  on  to  the  deck.  M j 
fear  was  a  fever  in  its  way,  and  I  did  not  feel  the 
cold.  There  was  no  star  to  be  seen,  but  the 
whiteness  of  the  ice  was  flung  out  in  a  wild 
strange  glare  by  the  blackness  of  the  sky,  and 
made  a  light  of  its  own.  It  was  the  most  savage 
and  terrible  picture  of  solitude  the  invention  of 
man  could  reach  to,  yet  1  blessed  it  for  the  relief 
it  gave  to  my  ghost-enkindled  imagination.  No 
squall  was  tnen  passing ;  the  rocks  rose  up  on 
either  hand  in  a  ghastly  glimmer  to  the  ebony  of 
the  heavens ;  the  gale  swept  overhead  in  a  wild, 
mad  blending  of  whistlings,  roarings,  and  crying! 
in  many  keys,  falling  on  a  sudden  into  a  doleful 
wailing,  then  rising  in  a  breath  to  the  full  fury  ol 
its  concert ;  the  sea  thundered  like  the  cannonad- 
ing of  an  electric  storm,  and  you  would  have  said 
that  the  rending  and  crackling  noises  of  the  ice 
were  responses  to  the  crashing  blows  of  the  balls 
of  shadow-hidden  ordnance.  But  the  scene,  the 
uproar,  the  voices  of  the  wind  were  real — a  better 
cordial  to  my  spirits  than  a  gallon  of  the  mellowest 
vintage  below ;  and  presently,  when  the  cold  was 
beginning  to  pierce  me,  my  courage  was  so  much 
the  better  for  this  excursion  into  the  hoarse  and 
black  and  gleaming  realities  of  the  nipht,  that  my 
heart  beat  at  its^  usual  measure  as  I  passed 
through  the  hatch  and  went  again  to  the  cook- 
room. 

I  was,  however,  sure  that  if  I  sat  here  long, 
listening  and  thinking,  fear  would  return.  A  small 
fire  still  burned ;  !  put  a  saucepan  oa  k,  and 


1*0  THI  FROZEN  PIRATE,  . 

popped  in  a  piece  of  the  fresh-water  ice,  but  on 
handling  the  brandy  I  found  it  hard  set.  The 
heat  of  the  oven  was  not  sufficiently  great  to  thaw 
me  a  dram ;  so  to  save  further  trouble  in  this  way 
I  took  the  chopper  and  at  one  blow  split  open  the 
jar,  and  then  there  lay  before  me  the  solid  body  of 
the  brandy,  from  which  I  chipped  off  as  much  as 
1  needed,  and  thus  procured  a  hot  and  animating 
draught. 

Raking  out  the  fire,  I  picked  up  the  lanthorn 
and  was  about  to  go,  then  halted,  considering 
whether  I  should  not  stow  the  frozen  provisions 
away.  It  was  a  natural  thought,  seeing  how 
precious  food  was  to  me.  But,  alas !  it  mattered 
not  where  they  lay ;  they  were  as  secure  here  as 
if  they  were  snugly  hidden  in  the  bottom  of  the 
hold.  It  was  the  white  realm  of  death ;  if  ever  a 
rat  had  crawled  in  this  ship,  it  was,  in  its  hiding- 
place,  as  stiff  and  idle  as  the  frozen  vessel.  So  1 
let  the  lump  of  brandy,  the  ice,  ham,  and  so  forth, 
rest  where  they  were,  and  went  to  the  cabin  I  had 
chosen,  involuntarily  peeping  at  the  figures  as  I 
passed,  and  hurrying  the  faster  because  of  the 
grim  and  terrifying  liveliness  put  into  the  man  who 
sat  starting  from  the  table  by  the  swing  of  the 
lanthorn  in  my  hand. 

1  shut  the  door  and  hung  the  lanthorn  near 
cot,    having    the    flint    and     box    in    my    pocket. 
re  was  indeed  an  abundance  of  candles  in  the 
vessel ;  nevertheless,  it  was  my  business  to   hus- 
band them  with  the  utmost    niggardliness.      How 
long  I  was  to  be  imprisoned  here,  if  indeed   1 
e"er  to  be  delivered,  Providence  alone  knew ;  and 


A  LOVKLY  NIGHT,  i§i 

to  run  short  of  candles  would  add  to  the  terrors  of 
my  existence,  by  forcing  me  either  to  open  the 
hatches  and  ports  for  light,  and  so  filling  the  ship 
with  the  deadly  air  outside,  or  living  in  darkness. 
There  were  a  cloak  and  a  coat  in  the  cot,  but  they 
would  not  suffice.  The  fine  cloak  I  had  taken 
from  the  man  on  the  rocks  was  on  deck,  and  till 
now  I  had  forgotten  it;  there  was,  however, 
plenty  of  apparel  in  the  corner  to  serve  as  wraps, 
and  naving  chosen  enough  to  smother  me  I 
vaulted  into  the  cot,  and  so  covered  myself  that 
the  clothes  were  above  the  level  of  the  sides  of 
the  cot. 

I  left  the  lanthorn  burning  whilst  I  made  sure 
my  bed  was  all  right,  and  lay  musing,  feeling 
extremely  melancholy ;  the  hardest  part  was  the 
thought  of  those  two  men  watching  in  the  cabin. 
The  most  fantastic  alarms  possessed  me.  Sup- 
pose their  ghosts  came  to  the  ship  at  midnight, 
and,  entering  their  bodies,  quickened  them  into 
walking?  Suppose  they  were  in  the  condition  of 
cataleptics,  sensible  of  what  passed  around  them, 
but  paralyzed  to  the  motionlessness  and  seeming 
insensibility  of  death?  Then  the  very  garments 
under  which  I  lay  were  of  a  proper  kind  to  keep  a 
man  in  my  situation  quaking.  My  imagination 
went  to  work  to  tell  me  to  whom  they  had  be- 
longed, the  bloody  ends  their  owners  had  met  at 
the  hands  of  the  miscreants  who  despoiled  them. 
I  caught  myself  listening — and  there  was  enough 
to  hear,  too,  what  with  the  subdued  roaring  of  the 
wind,  the  splintering  of  ice,  the  occasional  creak- 
ing— not  unlike  a  heavy  booted  tread — bf  UM 


in  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

fabric  of  the  schooner — to  the  blasts  of  the  gale 
against  her  masts,  or  to  a  movement  in  the  bed  on 
which  she  reposed. 

But  plain  sense  came  to  my  rescue  at  last.  I 
resolved  to  have  no  more  of  these  night  fears,  so, 
blowing  out  the  candle,  I  put  my  head  on  the  coat 
that  formed  my  pillow,  resolutely  kept  my  eyes 
shut,  and  after  awhile  fell  asleep. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

I    EXPLORE   THE   HOLD  AND   FORECASTLE. 

IT  was  pitch  dark  when  I  awoke,  and  I  conceived 
it  must  be  the  middle  of  the  night,  but  to  my 
astonishment,  on  lighting  the  lanthorn  and  looking 
at  the  watch,  which  I  had  taken  the  precaution  to 
wind  up  overnight,  I  saw  it  wanted  but  twenty 
minutes  of  nine  o'clock,  so  that  I  had  passecl 
through  twelve  hours  of  solid  sleep.  Howev* 
was  only  needful  to  recollect  where  I  was,  and  to 
cast  a  glance  at  the  closed  door  and  port,  to 
understand  why  it  was  dark.  I  had  slept  f. 
warm,  and  awoke  with  no  sensation  of  cramp ; 
but  the  keen  air  had  caused  the  steam  of 
breath  to  freeze  upon  my  mouth  in  such  a  manner 
that,  when  feeling  the  sticky  inconvenience  I  put 
my  finger  to  it,  it  fell  .like  a  little  mask;  and  I 
likewise  felt  the  pain  of  cold  in  my  face  to  such 
an  extent  that  had  I  been  blistered  there  my 
cheeks,  nose,  and  brow  could  not  have  smarted 
more.  Thr  henceforward  to  wrap 

up  my  h  going  to  rest. 

1  opened  the  door  and  passed  out,  and  cbserve<i 


1    EXPLORE   THE    HOLD   AtfD    FORECASTLE. 

an  amazing  difference  between  the  temperature 
of  the  air  in  which  I  had  been  sleeping  and  that 
of  the  atmosphere  in  the  passage — a  happy 
discovery,  for  it  served  to  assure  me  that,  if  I  was 
careful  to  lie  under  plenty  of  coverings  and  to 
keep  the  outer  air  excluded,  the  heat  of  my  body 
would  raise  the  temperature  of  the  little  cabin  ; 
nor,  providing  the.  compartment  was  ventilated 
throughout  the  day,  was  there  anything  to  be 
feared  from  the  vitiation  of  the  air  by  my  own 
breathing. 

My  first  business  was  to  light  the  fire  and  set 
my  breakfast  to  thaw,  and  boil  me  a  kettle  of 
water;  and  some  time  after  I  went  on  deck  to 
view  the  weather  and  to  revolve  in  my  mind 
the  routine  of  the  day.  On  opening  the  door 
of  the  companion-hatch  I .  was  nearly  blinded 
by  the  glorious  brilliance  of  the  sunshine  on  the 
snow ;  after  the  blackness  of  the  cabin  it  was  like 
looking  at  the  sun  himself,  and  1  had  to  stand  a 
full  three  minutes  with  my  hand  upon  my  eyes 
before  I  could  accustom  my  sight  to  the  dazzling 
glare.  It  was  fine  weather  again;  the  sky  over 
the  glass-like  masts  of  the  schooner  was  a  clear 
daih  blue,  with  a  few  light  clouds  blowing  over  it 
from  the  southward.  The  wind  had  shifted  at 
last;  but,  pure  as  the  heavens  w<  re,  the  breeze 
was  piping  Sriskly  with  the  weight  and  song  of  a 
small*  gale,  and  its  fangs  of  frost,  even  in  the 
comparative  quic*.  of  the  sheltered  deck,  bit 
with  a  fierceness  tl^t  had  not  been  observable 
yesterday. 

The  moment  I  had  tk    body  of  the  vessel  m 


if4  THE  FROZEN  PIKATI. 

my  sight  1  perceived  that  she  had  changed  hef 
position  since  my  last  view  of  her.  Her  bows 
were  more  raised,  and  she  lay  over  further  by  the 
depth  of  a  plank.  I  stared  earnestly  at  the  rocky 
slopes  on  either  hand,  but  could  not  have  sworin 
their  figuration  was  changed.  \n  eager  hope 
shot  into  my  mind,  but  it  q'.i^iuy  faded  into  an 
emotion  of  apprehension.  It  was  conceivable 
indeed  that  on  a  sudden  some  early  day  I  might 
find  the  schooner  liberated  and  afloat,  and  this 
was  the  first  inspiriting  flush  ;  but  then  came  the 
fear  that  the  disruption  and  volcanic  throes  of  the 
ice  might  crush  her,  a  fear  rational  enough  when 
I  saw  the  height  she  lay  above  the  sea,  and  how 
by  pressure  those  slopes  which  formed  her  cradle 
might  be  jammed  and  welded  together.  The 
change  of  her  posture  then  fell  upon  me  with  a 
kind  of  shock,  and  determined  me,  when  I  had 
broken  my  fast,  to  search  her  hold  for  a  boat  or 
for  materials  for  constructing  some  ark  by  which 
I  might  float  out  to  sea,  should  the  ice  grow 
menacing  and  force  me  from  the  schooner. 

I  made  a  plentiful  meal,  feeling  the  need  of 
abundance  of  food  in  such  a  temperature  as  this, 
and  heartily  grateful  that  there  was  no  need  whj 
I  should  stint  myself.  The  having  to  pass  the 
two  figures  every  time  I  went  on  deck  and  returned 
was  extremely  disagreeable  and  unnerving,  and  I 
considered  that,  after  searching  the  hold,  the  » 
duty  I  owed  myself  was  to  remove  them  on  deck, 
and  even  over  the  side,  if  possible,  for  one  place 
below  was  as  sure  to  keep  them  haunting  me  as 
another,  and  they  would  be  as  much  with  me  in 


I    BXFU>KB  THB    HOLD   AHB    FORECAST!.*.    1*5 

the  forecastle  as  if  I  stowed   them  away  in  the 

cabin  adjoining  mine. 

Whilst  I  ate,  my  mind  was  so  busy  with  con- 
siderations of  the  change  in  the  ship's  posture 
during  the  night  that  it  ended  in  determining  me 
to  take  a  survey  of  her  from  the  outside,  and  then 
climb  the  cliffs  and  look  around  before  I  fell  to 
any  other  work.  I  fetched  the  cloak  I  had  stripped 
the  body  on  the  rocks  of  and  thawed  and  warmed 
it,  and  put  it  on,  and  a  noble  covering  it  was, 
thick,  soft,  and  clinging.  Then,  arming  myself 
with  a  boarding-pike  to  serve  as  a  pole,  I  dropped 
»to  the  fore-chains  and  thence  stepped  on  to  the 
ice,  and  very  slowly  and  carefully  walked  round 
the  schooner,  examining  her  closely,  and  boring 
into  the  snow  upon  her  side  with  my  pike  wherever 
I  suspected  a  hole  or  indent.  I  could  find  nothing 
wrong  with  her  in  this  way,  though  what  a  thaw 
might  reveal  I  could  not  know.  Her  rudder  hung 
frozen  upon  its  pintles,  and  looked  as  it  should. 
Some  little  distance  abaft  her  rudder,  where  the 
hollow  or  chasm  sloped  to  the  sea,  was  a  great 
split  three  or  four  feet  wide ;  this  had  certainly 
happened  in  the  night,  and  I  must  have  slept  as 
sound  as  the  dead  not  to  hear  the  noise  of  it. 
Such  a  rent  as  this  sufficed  to  account  for  the 
subsidence  of  the  after-part  of  the  schooner  and 
her  further  inclination  to  larboard.  Indeed,  the 
hollow  was  now  coming  to  resemble  the  "ways" 
on  which  ships  are  launched  ;  and  you  would  have 
conceived  by  the  appearance  of  it  that  if  it  should 
slope  a  little  more  yet,  off  would  slide  the  schooner 
for  the  sea,  and  in  the  right  posture  too—that  is, 


it6  THE  FROZEN  Piiurm. 

stern  on.  But  I  prayed  with  all  my  might  and 
main  for  anything  but  this.  It  would  have  been 
very  well  had  the  hollow  gone  in  a  gentle  declivity 
to  the  wash  of  the  sea,  to  the  water  itself,  in 
short ;  but  it  terminated  at  the  edge  of  a  cliff,  not 
very  high  indeed,  but  high  enough  to  warrant  the 
prompt  foundering  of  any  vessel  that  should 
launch  herself  off  it.  Happily  the  keel  was  too 
solidly  frozen  into  the  ice  to  render  a  passage  of 
this  description  possible ;  and  the  conclusi 
arrived  at  after  careful  inspection  was  that  the 
sole  chance  that  could  offer  for  the  delivery  of 
the  vessel  to  her  proper  element  was  in  the 
cracking  up  and  disruption  of  the  bed  on  which 
she  lay. 

Having   ended    my  survey  of  the    schooner,   I 
addressed  myself  to  the  ascent  of  the  starboard 
slope,  and  scaled  it  much  more  easily  than  I  had 
yesterday  managed    to    make    my  way  over    the 
rocks.     I  climbed  to  the  highest  block  that  was 
nearest  me  on  the  summit,  and  here  I  had  a  very 
large  view  of  the  scene.      Much  to  my  astonish- 
ment, the  first  objects  which  encountered  my  eye 
were   four    icebergs,  floating  detached  but  close 
together  at  a  distance  of  about  three  miles  or 
side    of   the    north-east    trend    of   the    island.      ( 
counted  them  and  made  them  four.     Th< 
low,  and  it  was  very  easily  seen  they  had  for 
part  of  the  coast  there,  though,  as  the  form  o; 
ice   that  way  was    not    familiar   to    me,   and 
moreover,   the  glare  rendered   the  prosp 
deceptive,    I    could    not    distinguish    w! 
ruptures  were.     But   one  change  in    the  face  ot 


!  EXPLORE  THE  HOLD  AND  FORECASTLE.  1*7 

this  white  country  I  did  note,  and  that  was  the 
entire  disappearance  of  two  of  the  most  beautiful 
of  the  little  crystal  cities  that  adorned  the  north- 
ward range.  The  ga^  of  the  night  had  wrought 
havoc,  and  the  unsubstantially  of  this  dazzling 
kingdom  of  ice  was  made  startlingly  apparent  by 
the  evanishment  of  the  delicate  glassy  architecture, 
and  by  those  four  white  hills  floating  like  ships 
«mder  their  courses,  and  topsails  out  upon  the 
flashing  hurry  and  leaping  blue  and  yeast  of  the 
water. 

It  was  blowing  harder  than  I  had  imagined. 
The  wind  was  extraordinarily  sharp,  and  the  full 
current  of  it  not  long  to  be  endured  on  my 
Vmsheltered  eminence.  The  sea,  swelling  up  from 
the  south,  ran  high,  and  was  full  of  seething  and 
tumbling  noises,  and  of  the  roaring  of  the  breakers, 
dashing  themselves  against  the  ice  in  prodigious 
bodies  of  foam,  which  so  boiled  along  the  foot  of 
the  cliffs  that  their  fronts,  rising  out  of  it,  might 
have  passed  for  the  spume  itself  freezing  as  it 
leapt  into  a  solid  mass  of  glorious  brilliance.  The 
eye  never  explored  a  scene  more  full  of  the 
splendour  of  light  and  of  vivid  colour.  Here  and 
there  the  rocks  shone  prismatically  as  though 
some  flying  rainbow  had  shivered  itself  upon  them 
and  lay  broken.  The  blue  of  the  sea  and  sky 
was  deepened  into  an  exquisite  perfection  of 
liquid  tint  by  the  blinding  whiteness  of  the  ice, 
which  in  exchange  was  sharpened  into  a  wonderful 
effulgence  by  the  hues  above  and  around  it. 
Again  and  again,  along  the  whole  range,  far  tt 
the  sight  could  explore,  the  spray  rose  in  stately 


i«S  TOT  Fftoanr 

clouds  of  silver,  which  were  scattered  by  the  wind 
in  meteoric  scintillations  of  surpassing  beauty, 
flashing  through  the  fires  of  the  sun  like  millions 
of  little  blazing  stars.  There  were  twenty  different 
dyes  of  light  in  the  collection  of  spires,  fanes,  and 
pillars  near  the  schooner,  whose  masts,  yards,  and 
gear  mingled  their  own  particular  radiance  with 
that  of  these  dainty  figures ;  and  whereva-  -'  bent 
my  gaze  I  found  so  much  of  sun-tinctured 
loveliness,  and  the  wild  white  graces  of  ice-forms 
and  the  dazzle  of  snow-surfaces  softening  into  an 
azure  gleaming  in  the  far  blue  distances,  that  but 
for  the  piercing  wind  I  could  have  spent  the 
whole  morning  in  taking  into  my  mind  the 
marvellous  spirit  of  this  ocean  picture,  forgetful 
of  my  melancholy  condition  in  the  intoxication  of 
this  draught  of  free  and  spacious  beauty. 

Satisfied  as  to  the  state  of  the  ice  and  the 
posture  of  the  schooner,  viewed  from  without,  I 
sent  a  slow  and  piercing  gaze  along  the  ocean 
line,  and  then  returned  to  the  ship.  The  strong 
wind,  the  dance  of  the  sea,  the  grandeur  of  the 
great  tract  of  whiteness,  vitalized  by  the  flying  of 
violet  cloud-shadows  along  it,  had  fortified  my 
spirits,  and  being  free  (for  a  while)  of  all  super- 
stitious dread,  I  determined  to  begin  by  exploring 
the  forecastle  and  ascertaining  if  more  bodies  were 
in  the  schooner  than  those  two  in  the  cabin  and 
the  giant  form  on  deck.  I  threw  some  coal  on 

jr> 

the  fire,  and  placed  an  ox- tongue  along  with  the 
cheese  and  a  lump  of  the  frozen  wine  in  a  pannikin 
in  the  oven  (for  I  had  a  mind  to  taste  the 
stores,  and  thought  the  tongue  would 


make  an  ageeable  change),  and  then  putting  a 
candle  into  the  lanthorn  walked  very  bravely  to 
the  forecastle  and  entered  it. 

I  was  prepared  for  the  scene  of  confusion,  but 
I  must  say  it  staggered  me  afresh  with  something 
of  the  force  of  the  first  impression.  Sailors' 
chests  lay  open  in  all  directions,  and  their 
contents  covered  the  decks.  There  was  the 
clearest  evidence  here  that  the  majority  of  the 
crew  had  quitted  the  vessel  in  a  violent  hurry, 
turning  out  their  boxes  to  cram  their  money  and 
jewellery  into  their  pockets,  and  heedlessly  flinging 
down  their  own  and  the  clothes  which  had  fallen 
to  their  share.  This  I  had  every  right  to  suppose 
from  the  character  of  the  muddle  on  the  floor ; 
foF,  passing  the  light  over  a  part  of  it,  I  witnessed 
a  great  variety  of  attire  of  a  kind  which  certainly 
no  sailor  in  any  age  ever  went  to  sea  with ;  not 
so  fine  perhaps  as  that  which  lay  in  the  cabins, 
but  very  good  nevertheless,  particularly  the  linen. 
I  saw  several  wigs,  beavers  of  the  kind  that  was 
formerly  carried  under  the  arm,  women's  silk 
shoes,  petticoats,  pieces  of  lace,  silk,  and  so 
forth  ;  a:!  directly  assuring  me  that  what  I  viewed 
was  the  contents  of  passengers'  luggage,  together 
with  consignments  and  such  freight  as  the  pirates 
would  seize  and  divide,  every  man  filling  his 
chest.  Perhaps  there  was  less  on  the  whole  than 
I  supposed,  the  litter  looking  great  by  reason  of 
everything  having  been  torn  open  and  flung  down 
loose. 

I  trod  upon  these  heaps  with  little  concern ; 
they  appealed  to  me  only  as  a  provision  for  my 


130  THB  FROZEN  PIRAT*. 

fire  should   I  be  disappointed  in  my  search  for 

coal.  The  hammocks  obliged  me  to  move  with  a 
stooped  head ;  it  was  only  necessary  to  feel  them 
with  my  hand — that  is,  to  test  their  weight  by 
pushing  them  in  the  middle — to  know  if  they  were 
tenanted.  Some  were  heavier  than  the  others, 
but  all  of  them  much  lighter  than  they  would 
have  been  had  they  contained  human  bodies ;  and 
by  this  rapid  method  I  satisfied  my  mind  that 
there  were  no  dead  men  here  as  fully  as  if  I  had 
looked  into  each  separate  hammock. 

This  discovery  was  exceedingly  comforting,  for, 
though  I  do  not  know  that  I  should  have  meddled 
with  any  frozen  man  had  I  found  him  in  this  place, 
his  being  in  the  forecastle  would  have  rendered 
me  constantly  uneasy,  and  it  must  have  come  to 
my  either  closing  this  part  of  the  ship  and 
shrinking  from  it  as  from  a  spectre-ridden  gloom, 
or  to  my  disposing  of  the  bodies  by  dragging 
them  on  deck — a  dismal  and  hateful  job.  There? 
were  no  ports,  but  a  hatch  overhead.  Wanting 
light — the  candle  making  the  darkness  but  little 
more  than  visible — I  fetched  from  the  arms-room 
a  handspike  that  lay  in  a  corner,  and,  mounting  a 
chest,  struck  at  the  hatch  so  heartily  that  the  ice 
cracked  all  around  it  and  the  cover  rose.  I 
pushed  it  off,  and  down  rolled  the  sunshine  in 
splendour. 

Everything  was  plain  now.  In  many  places, 
glittering  among  the  clothes,  were  gold  and  silver 
coins,  a  few  silver  ornaments  such  as  buckles,  and 
watches — things  not  missed  by  the  pirates  in  the 
transport  of  their  flight.  In  kicking  a  coat  aside 


I    EXFLOU   THK    HOLD    A1TD    FoiKCAftTLl.    !|I 

I  discovered  a  couple  of  silver  crucifixes  bound 
together,  and  close  by  were  a  silver  goblet  and 
the  hilt  of  a  sword  broken  short  off  for  the  sake 
of  the  metal  it  was  of.  Nothing  ruder  than  this 
interior  is  imaginable.  The  men  must  have  been 
mighty  put  to  it  for  room.  There  was  a  window 
in  the  head,  but  the  snow  veiled  it.  Maybe  the 
rogues  messed  together  aft,  and  only  used  this 
forecastle  to  lie  in.  Right  under  the  hatch,  where 
the  light  was  strongest,  was  a  dead  rat.  I 
stooped  to  pick  it  up,  meaning  to  fling  it  on  to 
the  deck,  but  its  tail  broke  off  at  the  rump,  like  a 
pipe-stem. 

Close  against  the  after  bulkhead  that  separated 
the  forecastle  from  the  cook-room  was  a  little 
hatch.  There  was  a  quantity  of  wearing-apparel 
upon  it,  and  I  should  have  missed  it  but  for 
catching  sight  of  some  three  inches  of  the  dark 
line  the  cover  made  in  the  deck.  On  clearing 
away  the  clothes  1  perceived  a  ring  similar  to  that 
in  the  lazarette  hatch,  and  it  rose  to  my  first  drag 
and  left  me  the  hold  yawning  black  below.  I 
peered  down  and  observed  a  stout  stanchion 
traversed  by  iron  pins  for  the  hands  and  feet. 
The  atmosphere  was  nasty,  and  to  give  it  time  to 
clear  I  went  to  the  cook-house  and  warmed  myself 
before  the  fire. 

The  fresh  air  blowing  down  the  forecastle  hatch 
speedily  sweetened  the  hold.  I  lowered  the 
lanthorn  and  followed,  and  found  myself  on  top 
of  some  rum  or  spirit  casks,  which  on  my 
hitting  them  returned  to  me  a  solid  note.  There 
was  a  forepeak  forward  in  the  bows,  and  the  casks 


Tin  FKOZEM 

went  stowed  to  the  bulkhead  of  it ;  the  top  of  this 

bulkhead  was  open  four  feet  from  the  upper  deck, 
and  on  holding  the  lanthorn  over  and  putting  my 
head  through  I  saw  a  quantity  of  coals.  If  the 
forepeak  went  as  low  as  the  vessel's  floor,  then  I 
calculated  there  would  not  be  less  than  fifteen 
tons  of  coal  in  it.  This  was  a  noble  discovery  to 
fall  upon,  and  it  made  me  feel  so  happy  that 
I  do  not  know  that  the  assurance  of  my  being 
immediately  rescued  from  this  island  could  have 
given  a  lighter  pulse  to  my  heart. 

The  candle  yielded  a  very  small  light,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  see  above  a  yard  or  so  ahead  or 
around.  I  turned  my  face  aft,  and  crawled  over 
the  casks  and  came  to  under  the  main-hatch, 
where  lay  coils  of  hawser,  buckets,  blocks,  and 
the  like,  but  there  was  no  pinnace,  though  here 
she  had  been  stowed,  as  a  sailor  would  have 
promptly  seen.  A  little  way  beyond,  under  the 
great  cabin,  was  the  powder-magazine,  a  small 
bulkheaded  compartment  with  a  little  door,  atop 
of  which  was  a  small  bull's-eye  lamp.  I  peered 
warily  enough,  you  will  suppose,  into  this  place, 
and  made  out  twelve  barrels  of  powder.  I  heartily 
wished  them  overboard ;  and  yet,  after  all,  they 
were  not  very  much  more  dangerous  than  the 
wine  and  spirits  in  the  lazarette  and  fore-hold. 

The  run  remained  to  be  explored — the  after 
part,  I  mean,  under  the  lazarette  deck  to  the 
rudder-post — but  I  had  seen  enough ;  crawling 
about  that  black  interior  was  cold,  lonesome, 
melancholy  work,  an<i  it  fvas  rendered  p. 
arduous  by  the  obligation  of  caution  imposed  by 


AM   EXTKAORDIVAKY   OOCHUUOPCB. 

my  having  to  bear  a  light  amid  a  freight  mainly 
formed  of  explosives  and  combustible  matter.  I 
had  found  plenty  of  coal,  and  that  sufficed.  So 
I  returned  by  tne  same  road  I  had  entered,  and 
sliding  to  the  bulkhead  door  to  keep  the  cold  of 
the  forecastle  out  of  the  cook-room,  I  stirred  the 
fire  into  a  blaze  and  sat  down  before  it  to  rest  and 
think. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

AN  EXTRAORDINARY  OCCURRENCE, 

AFTER  the  many  great  mercies  which  had  been 
Youchsafed  me,  such  as  my  being  the  only  one 
saved  of  all  the  crew  of  the  Laughing  Mary^  my 
deliverance  from  the  dangers  of  an  open  boat,  my 
meeting  with  this  schooner  and  discovering  within 
her  everything  needful  for  the  support  of 
life,  I  should  have  been  guilty  of  the  basest 
ingratitude  had  I  repined  because  there  was  no 
boat  in  the  ship.  Yet  for  all  that  I  could  not  but 
see  it  was  a  matter  that  concerned  me  very 
closely.  Should  the  vessel  be  crushed,  what  was 
to  become  of  me  ?  It  was  easy  to  propose  to 
myself  the  making  of  a  raft  or  the  like  of  such  a 
fabric ;  but  everything  was  so  hard  frozen  that, 
being  single-handed,  it  was  next  to  impossible 
I  should  be  able  to  put  together  such  a  con- 
trivance as  would  be  fit  to  live  in  th*  smallest 
sea-way. 

However,  I  was  resolved  not  to  make  myself 
melancholy  with  these  considerations.     The 
fortune  that    had    attended    me  so    mr 


1  14  Tn»  Fxozxir  PJ* 


.ny  me  to  the  end,  and  maybe  I  WAS  the 
fitter    just    ihen    to   take   a   hop.  of  my 

ition  because  of  the  cheerft  .vakened 

a  by  the  noble  show  of  coal  in  the  forepeak. 
At  twelve  o'clock  by  the  watch  in  my  pocket  I  got 
iinner.  I  had  a  mind  for  a  lighter  drink  than 
brandy,  and  went  to  the  lazarette  and  cut  out  a 
block  of  the  wine  in  the  cask  I  -had  opened  ;  I 
also  knocked  out  the  head  of  a  tierce  of  beef, 
designing  a  hearty  regale  for  supper.  You  smile, 
perhaps,  that  J  should  talk  so  much  of  my  eating  ; 
but  if  on  shore,  amid  the  security  of  existence 
there,  it  is  the  one  great  business  of  life,  that  is 
to  say,  the  one  great  business  "of  life  after  love, 
what  must  it  be  to  a  poor  shipwrecked  wretch  like 
me,  who  had  nothing  else  to  think  of  but  his  food  ? 

Yet  I  could  not  help  smiling  when  I  considered 
how  I  was  carrying  my  drink  about  in  my  fingers. 
What  the  wine  was  1  do  not  know,;  it  looked  like 
claret  but  was  somewhat  sweet,  and  was  the  most 
generous  wine  I  ever  tasted,  spite  of  my  having 
to  drink  it  warm,  for  if  I  let  the  cup  out  of 
my  hand  to  cool,  lo  !  when  I  looked  it  was  ice  ! 

Whilst  I  sat  smoking  my  pipe  it  entered  my 
head  to  presently  turn  those  two  silent  gentlemen 
in  the  cabin  out  of  it.  It  was  a  task  from  which 
I  shrank,  but  it  must  be  done.  To  be  candid,  I 
dreaded  the  effects  of  their  dismal  companionship 
en  my  spirits.  I  had  been  in  the  schooner  two 
day*  only;  I  had  been  heartened  by  the  plenty  I 
had  met  with,  a  sound  night's  rest,  the  fire,  and 
«y  escape  from  the  fate  that  had  certainly 
me  had  I  gone  away  in  the  boat.  But 


AH  EXTRAORDINARY  OCCURRENCE       ijf 

being  of  a  superstitious  nature  and  never  m  lover 
>titude,  I  easily  guessed  that  in  a  few  dayi 
the  weight  of  my  loneliness  would  come  to  press 
very  heavily  upon  me,  and  that  if  I  suffered  those 
figures  to  keep  the  cabin  I  should  find  myself 
lying  under  a  kind  of  horror  which  might  end  in 
breaking  down  my  manhood  and  perhaps  in 
unsettling  my  reason. 

But  how  was  I  to  dispose  of  them  ?  I  meditated 
this  matter  whilst  I  smoked.  First  I  thought 
would  drag  them  to  the  fissure  or  rent  in  the  ice 
just  beyond  the  stern  of  the  schooner  and  tumble 
ttjem  into  it.  But  even  then  they  would  still  be 
with  me,  so  to  speak — I  mean,  they  would  be 
neighbours  though  out  of  sight ;  and  my  eagerness 
was  to  get  them  away  from  this  island  altogether, 
which  was  only  to  be  done  by  casting  them  into 
the  sea.  Why,  though  I  did  not  mention  the 
matter  in  its  place,  I  was  as  much  haunted  last 
night  by  the  man  on  deck  and  the  meditating 
figure  on  the  rocks  as  by  the  fellows  in  the  cabin ; 
and,  laugh  as  you  may  at  my  weakness,  I  do 
candidly  own  my  feeling  was,  if  I  did  not  contrive 
that  the  sea  should  carry  those  bodies  away,  I 
should  come  before  long  to  think  of  them  as  alive, 
no  matter  in  what  part  of  the  island  I  might  bear 
them  to,  and  at  night-time  start  at  every  sound, 
hear  their  voices  in  the  wind,  see  their  shapes  in 
the  darkness,  and  even  by  day  dread  to  step 
upon  the  cliffs. 

That  such  fancies  should  possess  me  already 
shows  how  necessary  it  was  I  should  lose  no  time 
to  provide  against  their  growth ;  so  I  settled  my 


1J0  TU   FkOZKM    PiaATB. 

scheme  thus:  first  I  was  to  haul  the  figures  as 
best  I  could  on  to  the  deck;  then,  there  being 
three,  to  get  them  over  the  side,  and  afterwards 
by  degrees  to  transport  the  four  of  them  to  some 
steep  whence  they  would  slide  of  themselves  into 
the  ocean.  Yet  so  much  did  I  dread  the  under- 
taking, and  abhor  the  thought  of  the  tedious  time 
I  foresaw  it  would  occupy  me,  that  I  cannot 
imagine  any  other  sort  of  painful  and  distressing 
work  that  would  not  have  seemed  actually  agree- 
able as  compared  with  this. 

My  pipe  being  smoked  out,  I  stepped  into  the 
cabin,  and  ascending  the  ladder  threw  off  the 
companion-cover  and  opened  the  doors,  and  then 
went  to  the  man  that  had  his  back  to  the  steps, 
but  my  courage  failed  me;  he  was  so  lifelike, 
there  was  so  wild  and  fierce  an  earnestness  in  the 
expression  of  his  face,  so  inimitable  a  picture  of 
borror  in  his  starting  posture,  that  mv  hands  fell 
to  my  side  and  I  could  not  lay  hold  of  him.  I 
will  not  stop  to  analyse  my  fear  or  ask  whv,  since 
I  knew  that  this  man  was  dead,  he  should  have 
terrified  me  as  surely  no  living  man  could ;  I  can 
onlv  repeat  that  the  prospect  of  touching  him,  and 
laying  him  upon  the  deck  and  then  dragging  him 
up  the  ladder,  was  indescribably  fearful  to  me,  and 
I  turned  away,  shaking  as  if  I  had  the  ague. 

But  it  had  to  be  done,  nevertheless ;  and  after  a 
great  deal  of  reasoning  and  self-reproach  I  seized 
him  on  a  sudden,  and,  kicking  away  the  bench,  let 
him  fall  to  the  deck.  He  was  frozen  as  hard  as 
•tone  and  fell  like  stone,  and  I  looked  to  see  him 
break,  as  a  statue  might  that  fails  Uimpishly. 


AM  ExnuoftDnuiY  OOCVUUOKB.       iff 

His  arms  remaining  raised  put  him  into  an 
attitude  of  entreaty  to  me  to  leare  him  in  peace ; 
but  I  had  somewhat  mastered  myself,  and  the 
hurry  and  tumult  of  my  spirits  were  a  kind  of  hot 
temper ;  so  catching  him  by  the  collar,  I  dragged 
him  to  the  foot  of  the  companion-steps,  and  then 
with  infinite  labour  and  a  number  of  sickening 
pauses  hauled  him  up  the  ladder  to  the  deck. 

I  let  him  lie  and  returned,  weary  and  out  of 
breath.  He  had  been  a  yery  fine  man  in  life,  of 
beauty  too,  as  was  to  be  seen  in  the  shape  of  his 
features  and  the  particular  elegance  of  his  chin, 
despite  the  distortion  of  his  last  unspeakable  dis- 
may ;  and  with  his  clothes  I  guessed  his  weight 
came  hard  upon  two  hundred  pounds,  no  mean 
^burden  to  haul  up  a  ladder. 

I  went  to  the  cook-house  for  a  dram  and  to  rest 
myself,  and  then  came  back  to  the  cabin  and 
looked  at  -the  other  man.  His  posture  has  been 
already  described.  He  made  a  very  burly  figure 
in  his  coat,  and  if  his  weight  did  not  exceed  the 
other's  it  was  not  likely  to  be  less.  Nothing  of 
his  head  was  visible  but  the  baldness  on  the  top 
and  the  growth  of  hair  that  ringed  it,  and  the 
fluffing  up  of  his  beard  about  his  arms  in  which 
his  face  was  sunk.  I  touched  his  beard  with  a 
shuddering  finger,  and  noted  that  the  frost  had 
made  every  hair  of  it  as  stiff  as  wire.  It  would 
not  do  to  stand  idly  contemplating  him,  for  al- 
ready there  was  slowly  creeping  into  me  a  dread 
*»f  seeing  his  face;  so  I  took  hold  of  him  and 
iiwaved  him  from  the  table,  and  he  fell  upon  th« 
deck  sideways,  preserving  his  posture,  10  that 


THE  F* 

his  face  remained  hidden.  I  dragged  htm  a  littU 
way,  but  he  was  so  heavy  and  his  attitude  rendered 
him  as  a  burthen  so  surprisingly  cumbrous  that  I 
was  sure  I  could  never  of  my  own  strength  haul 
him  up  the  ladder.  Yet  neither  was  it  tolerable 
that  he  should  be  there.  I  thought  of  contriving 
a  tackle  called  a  whip,  and  making  one  end  fast  to 
him  and  taking  the  other  end  to  the  little  capstan 
on  the  main  deck  ;  but  on  inspecting  the  capstan 
I  found  that  the  frost  had  rendered  it  immovable, 
added  to  which  there  was  nothing  whatever  to  be 
done  with  the  iron-hard  gear,  and  therefore  I  had 
to  give  that  plan  up. 

Then,  thought  I,  if  I  was  to  put  him  before  the 
fire,  he  might  presently  thaw  into  some  sort  of 
suppleness,  and  so  prove  not  harder  than  the  other 
to  get  on  deck.  I  liked  the  idea,  and  without 
more  ado  dragged  him  laboriously  into  the  cook- 
room  and  laid  him  close  to  the  furnace,  throwing 
in  a  little  pile  of  coal  to  make  the  tire  roar. 

I   then  went  on  deck,  and  easily  enough,  the 

deck  being  slippery,  got  my  first  man  to  where  the 

huge  fellow  was  that  had  sentinelled  the  vessel 

when  I  first  looked  down  upon  her ;    but  when  I 

viewed  the  slopes,   broken  into  rocks,  which  I, 

unburdened ,  had  found   hard  enough  to 

I  was  perfectly  certain  I  should  never  be 

i  ttoe  bodies  to  the  top  of  the  cliffs, 

vU  them   fall  into  the  great    split 

or  lower  them  over  the  side 

v  in  which  the  schooner  lay  to 

he  cold  in 


AM  ExT*AO*mNA*v  Occt?»**»nL      iff 

the  little  valley,  and  relishing  the  brisk  exercise, 
scheming  to  convey  the  bodies  to  the  sea,  for 
was  passionately  in  earnest  in  wishing  the  four  of 
them  away  ;  but  te  no  purpose.     I  had  but  my 
arms,  and  scheme  as  I  would,  I  could  not  make 
them  stronger  than  they  were.     It  was  still  blow- 
ing a  fresh  bright  gale  from  the  south  ;  the  sea, 
as  might  be  known  by  the  noise  of  it,  beat  very 
heavily  against  the  cliffs  of  ice  :  and  the  extremity 
of  the  hollow,  where  it  opened  to  the  ocean  but 
without  showing  it,  was  again  and  again  veiled  by 
a  vast  cloud  of  spray,  &e  rain  of  which  1  could 
hear  ringing  like  vollevs  of  shot  as  the  wind  smote 
it  and  drove  it  with  incredible  force  against  the 
rocks  past  the  brow  of  the  north  slope.     I  thought 
to  myself  there  should  be  power*  in  this  wind  t» 
quicken  the  sliding  of  even  so  mighty  a.  berg  as 
this  island  northwards.     Every  day  should  steal 
it  by  something,  however  inconsiderable,  nearer  to 
warmer  regions,  and  no  gale,  nay,  no  gentle  swell 
even,  but  must  help  to  crack  and  loosen  it  into 
pieces.     "  Oh,"  cried  I,  "  for  the  power  to  rupture 
this  bed,  that  the  schooner  might  slip  into   the 
sea !     Think  of  her  running  north  before  such  a 
gale  as  this,  steadily  bearing  me  towards  a  more 
temperate  clime,  and  into  the  road  of  ships !  " 
clenched  my  hands  with  a  wild  yearning  in  my 
heart.     Should  I  ever  behold  my  country  again  ? 
should  I  ever  meet  a  living  man?    The  white  and 
frozen  steeps  glared  a  bald    reply;  and  I  heird 
nothing  *ni1   menace  in  the  shrifl  noisei  of  th« 
win^  c  deep  and  thunderous  raaring  «*  tb* 


140  THM  FMOZJUT  Puutm 

It  was  mighty  comforting,  however,  on  return- 
ing to  the  cabin  to  find  it  vacant,  to  be  freed  from 
the  scare  of  the  sight  of  the  two  silent  figures.  I 
drew  my  breath  more  easily  and  stopped  to  glance 
around.  It  was  the  barest  cabin  I  was  ever  in — 
uncarpeted,  with  no  other  seats  than  the  little 
benches.  I  looked  at  the  crucifix*  and  guessed 
from  the  sight  of  it  that,  whatever  might  be  the 
vessel's  nation,  she  had  not  been  sailed  by 
Englishmen.  I  peeped  into  poor  Polly's  cage — if 
a  parrot  it  was — and  the  sight  of  the  nch  plumage 
carried  my  imagination  to  skies  of  brass,  to  the 
mvsterious  green  solitude  of  tropic  forests,  to 
islands  fringed  with  silver  surf,  in  whose  sunny 
flashing  sported  nude  girls  of  faultless  forms, 
showing  their  teeth  of  pearl  in  merry  laughter, 
winding  amorously  with  the  blue  billow,  and  filling 
the  aromatic  breeze  with  the  melody  of  their 
language  of  the  sun.  Ha  1  thought  I,  sailors  see 
some  changes  in  their  time ;  and  with  a  hearty 
sigh  I  stepped  into  the  cook-room. 

I  started,  stopped,  and  fell  back  a  pace  with  a 
cry.  When  I  had  put  the  figure  before  the  fire 
he  was  in  the  same  posture  in  which  he  had  sat 
at  the  table,  that  is,  leaning  forward  with  his  face 
hid  in  his  arms  ;  I  had  laid  him  on  his  side,  with 
his  face  to  the  furnace,  and  in  that  attitude  you 
would  have  supposed  him  a  man  sound  asleep 
with  his  arms  over  his  face  to  shield  it  from  the 
heat.  But  now,  to  my  unspeakable  astonishment, 
he  lay  on  his  back,  with  his  arms  sunk  to  his  side 
and  resting  on  the  deck,  and  his  face  upturned. 

1  »Ur*d  at  him  from  the  door  us  if  ,h«  was  the 


An  EXTRAORDINARY  Oocpismtcm.       141 

Fiend  himself.  I  could  scarce  credit  my  senses, 
and  my  consternation  was  so  great  that  I  cannot 
conceive  of  any  man  ever  having  laboured  under 
a  greater  fright.  I  faintly  ejaculated  '  Good 
God  ! '  several  times,  and  could  hardly  prevent 
my  legs  from  running  away  with  me.  You  see,  it 
was  certain  he  must  nave  moved  of  his  own  accord 
to  get  upon  his  back.  I  was  prepared  for  the  fire 
to  thaw  him  into  limbemess,  and  had  I  found  him 
straightened  somewhat  I  should  not  have  been 
surprised.  But  there  was  no  power  in  fire  to 
stretch  him  to  his  full  length  and  turn  him  over  on 
his  back.  What  living  or  ghostly  hand  had  done 
this  thing  ?  Did  spirits  walk  this  schooner  after 
all  ?  Had  I  missed  of  something  more  terrible 
than  any  number  of  dead  men  in  searching  th 
vessel  ? 

1  had  made  a  great  fire  and  its  light  was  strong, 
and  there  was  also  the  light  of  the  lanthorn  j  but 
the  furnace  flames  played  very  lively,  completely 
-overmastering  the  steady  illumination  of  the 
candle,  and  the  man's  figure  was  all  a- twitch  with 
moving  shadows,  and  a  hundred  fantastic  shades 
seemed  to  steal  out  of  the  side  and  bulkheads 
and  disappear  upon  my  terrified  gaze.  Then, 
thought  I,  suppose  after  all  that  the  man  should  be 
alive,  the  vitality  in  him  set  flowing  by  the  heat  ? 
I  minded  myself  of  my  own  simile  of  the  current 
checked  by  frost,  yet  retaining  unimpaired  the 
principle  of  motion  ;  and  getting  my  agitation 
under  some  small  control,  I  approached  the  body 
on  tiptoe  and  held  the  lanthorn  to  its  face. 

He  looked  a  man  of  sixty  years  of  age ;  his 


14*  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

beard  was  grey  and  very  long,  and  lay  upon  his 
breast    like  a  cloud  of  smoke.     Hi*    eyes  were 
closed ;  the  brows  shaggy,  and  the  dark  scar  of 
a  sword-wound  ran  across   his  forehead  from  the 
corner  of  the  left  eye  to  the  top  of  the  right  brow. 
His  nose  was  long  and  hooked,  but  the  repose  in 
his  countenance,  backed  by  the  vague  character 
of  the  light  in  which  I  inspected  him,  left  his  face 
almost  expressionless.     I  was  too  much  alarmed 
to  put  my  ear  to  his  mouth  to  mark  if  he  breathed, 
if  indeed  the    noise    of  the  burning  fire  would 
have  permitted  me  to  distinguish   his  respiration. 
I  drew  back  from   him,  and  put  down  the  Ian- 
thorn  and  watched  him.      Thought  I,  it  will  not  do 
to  believe  there  is  anything  supernatural  here.     I 
can  swear  there  is  naught  living  in  this  ship,  and 
am  I  to  suppose,  assuming  she  is  haunted,  that  a 
ghost,  which  I  have  always  read  and  heard  of  as 
an  essence,  has  in  its  shadowy  being  such  quality 
of  muscle  as  would  enable  it  to  turn  that  h 
man  over  from  his  side  on  to  his  back  ?     No,  no 
thought    I  !    depend  upon  it,  either  he    is   alive 
and  may  presently  come  to  himself,  or  else  in 
some  wonderful  way  the  fire  in  thawing  him 
so  wrought  in  his  frozen  fibres  as  to  cause  him  to 
turn. 

Presently  his  left  leg,  that  was  slightly  bent  to- 
wards the  furnace,  stretched  itself  out  to  its  fuU 
length,  and  my  ear  caught  a  faint  sound,  as  of  a 
weak  and  melancholy  sigh.  Gracious  heaven, 
thought  I,  he  is  alive!  and  with  less  of  terror 
than  of  profound  awe,  now  that  I  saw  there  was 
nothing  of  a  ghostly  or  preternatural  character  in 


Ax  EXTRAORDINARY  OCCURRENCE.       143 

this  business,  I  approached  and  bent  over  him. 
His  eyes  were  still  shut,  and  I  could  not  hear  that 
he  breathed ;  there  was  not  the  faintest  motion  of 
respiration  in  his  breast  nor  stir  in  the  hair,  that 
was  now  soft,  abont  his  mouth.  Yet,  so  far  as  the 
light  would  suffer  me  to  judge,  there  was  a 
flexion  in  his  face  such  as  could  only  come 
with  flowing  blood,  however  languid  its  circulation, 
and  putting  this  and  the  sigh  and  the  movement- 
01  tne  leg  together,  Ffelt  convinced  that  the  man 
was  alive,  and  forthwith  fell  to  work,  very  full  of 
awe  and  amazement  to  be  sure,  to  help  nature 
that  was  struggling  in  him. 

My  first  step  was  to  heat  some  brandy,  and 
whilst  this  was  doing  I  pulled  open  his  coat  and 
freed  his  neck,  fetching  a  coat  from  the  cabin  to 
serve  as  a  pillow  for  his  head.  I  next  removed 
his  boots  and  laid  bare  his  feet  (which  were 
encased  in  no  less  than  four  pairs  of  thick  woollen 
stockings,  so  that  I  thought  when  I  came  to  the 
third  pair  I  should  find  his  legs  made  of  stockings;, 
and  after  bathing  his  feet  in  hot  water,  of  which 
there  was  a  kettieful,  I  rubbed  them  with  hot 
brandy  as  hard  as  1  could  chafe.  I  then  dealt 
with  his  hands  in  the  like  manner,  having  once 
been  shipmate  with  a  seaman  who  told  me  he  had 
seen  a  sailor  brought  to  by  severe  rubbing  of 
his  extremities  after  he  had  been  carried  below 
supposed  to  be  frozen  to  death,  and  continued 
this  exercise  till  I  could  rub  no  longer.  Next  I 
opened  his  lips  and,  finding  he  wanted  some  of 
his  front  teeth,  I  very  easily  poured  a  dram  «f 
brandy  into  his  mouth.  Though  I  preserved  my 


144  Tvt  F&oztif  PIRATB. 

sfctonishment  all  thit  while,  I  soon  discovered 
myself  working  with  enthusiasm,  with  a  most 
passionate  longing  indeed  to  recover  the  man,  not 
only  because  it  pleased  me  to  think  of  my  being 
an  instrument  under  God  of  calling  a  human  being, 
so  to  speak,  out  of  his  grave,  but  because  I 
yearned  for  a  companion,  some  one  to  addresr, 
to  lighten  the  hideous  solitude  of  my  condition 
and  to  assist  me  in  planning  our  deliverance. 

I  built  up  a  great  fire,  and  with  much  trouble, 
for  he  was  very  heavy,  disposed  him  in  such  a 
manner  before  it  that  the  neat  was  reflected  all 
over  the  front  of  him  from  his  head  to  his  feet.  I 
likewise  continued  to  chafe  his  extremities, 
remitting  this  work  only  to  rest,  and  finding  that 
the  brandy  had  stolen  down  his  throat,  I  poured 
another  dram  in  and  then  another,  till  I  think  he 
had  swallowed  a  pint.  This  went  on  for  an  hour, 
during  which  time  he  never  exhibited  the  least 
signs  of  life ;  but  on  a  sudden  he  sighed  deep,  a 
tremor  ran  through  him,  he  sighed  again  and 
partly  raised  his  right  hand,  which  fell  to  the  deck 
with  a  blow ;  his  bps  twitched,  and  a  small  con- 
vulsion of  his  face  compelled  the  features  into  the 
similitude  of  a  grin  that  instantly  faded ;  then  he 
fetched  a  succession  of  sighs  and  opened  his  eyes 
full  upon  me, 

I  was  warm  enough  with  ny  work,  but  when  I 
observed  him  looking  at  me  I  turned  of  a  death- 
like cold,  and  felt  the  dew  of  an  intolerable 
emotion  wet  in  the  palms  of  my  hands.  There 
was  no  speculation  in  his  stare  at  first ;  his  eyes 
lay  as  coldly  upon  me  as  those  of  a  fish ;  but  as 


AM  EmAo&DiNAMY  OocintuvcB.       145 

Mfe  quickened  in  him  so  his  understanding  awoke; 
he  slightly  knitted  his  brows,  and  very  slowly 
rolled  his  gaze  off  me  to  the  furnace  and  so 
over  as  much  of  the  cook-room  as  was  before 
him.  He  then  started  as  if  to  sit  up,  but  fell 
back  with  a  slight  groan  and  looked  at  me 
again. 

"  What  is  this  ?  "  said  he  in  French,  in  a  very 
hollow  feeble  voice. 

I  knew  enough  of  his  language  to  enable  me 
to  know  he  spoke  in  French,  but  that  was  all.  I 
could  not  speak  a  syllable  of  that  tongue. 

'  You'll  be  feeling  better  presently ;  you  must 
not  expect  your  strength  to  come  in  a  minute/' 
said  I,  taking  my  chance  of  his  understanding 
me,  and  speaking  that  he  might  not  think  me  a 
ghost,  for  I  doubt  not  I  was  as  white  as  one  ; 
since,  to  be  plain,  the  mere  talking  to  a  figure 
that  I  had  got  to  consider  as  sheerly  dead  as 
anybody  in  a  graveyard  was  alarming  enough,  and 
then  again  there  was  the  sound  of  my  own  voice, 
which  I  had  not  exerted  in  speech  for  ages,  as  it 
seemed  to  me. 

He  faintly  nodded  his  head,  by  which  I  per- 
ceived he  understood  me,  and  said  very  faintly  in 
English,  but  with  a  true  French  accent,  "  This  is  a 
hard  bed,  sir." 

"I'll  speedily  mend  that/'  said  I,  and  at  once 
fetched  a  mattress  from  the  cabin  next  mine ; 
this  I  placed  beside  him,  and  dragged  him  on  to 
it,  he  very  weakly  assisting.  I  then  brought 
clothei  and  rugs  to  coyer  him  with,  and  made 
him  a  high  pillow,  and  as  he  Uy  clou  to  tfct 


TFT*  FROZIW  Pi*Am 

furnace  he  could  not  have  been  snugger  had  h« 
had  a  wife  to  tuck  him  up  in  his  own  bed. 

I  was  very  much  excited  ;  my  former  terrori 
had  vanished,  but  my  awe  continued  great,  for 
felt  as  if  I  had  wrought  a  miracle,  and  I  trembled 
as  a  man  would  who  surveys  some  prodigy  of  his 
own  creation.  It  was  yet  to  be  learnt  how  long 
he  had  been  in  this  condition ;  but  I  was  perfectly 
sure  he  had  formed  one  of  the  schooner's  people, 
and  as  I  had  guessed  her  to  have  been  here  for 
upwards  of  fifty  years,  the  notion  of  that  man 
having  lain  torpid  for  half  a  century  held  me 
under  a  perpetual  spell  of  astonishment  ;  but 
there  was  no  more  horror  in  me  nor  fright.  He 
followed  me  about  with  his  eyes  but  did  not  offer 
to  speak  ;  perhaps  he  could  not.  I  put  a  lump  of 
ice  into  the  kettle,  and  when  the  water  boiled  made 
him.  a  pint  of  steaming  brandy  punch,  which  I  held 
to  his  lips  in  a  pannikin  whilst  I  supported  his  back 
with  mv  knee ;  he  supped  it  slowly  and  painfully 
but  with  unmistakable  relish,  and  fetched  a  sign 
of  contentment  as  he  lay  back.  But  he  would 
need  something  more  sustaining  than  brandy  and 
water;  and  as  I  guessed  his  stomach,  after  so 
prodigious  a  fast,  would  be  too  weak  to  support 
such  solids  as  beef  or  pork  or  bacon,  1  mused  a 
little,  turning  OYcrin  my  mind  the  contents  of  the 
larder  (as  I  call  it),  all  which  time  he  eyed  me 
with  bewilderment  growing  in  his  face;  and 
then  thought  I  could  not  do  better  than 
manufacture  him  a  broth  of  oatmeal,  wine,  br 
biicuit,  and  a  piece  of  tongue  minced  very  small. 

TKU  dit'  net  take  me  long  in  doing,  th«  tongu* 


THI  PIRATE'S  STQIY.  147 

being  near  the  furnace  and  soft  enough  for  the 
knife,  and  there  was  nothing  to  melt  but  the  wine. 
When  the  broth  was  ready  I  kneeled  as  before 
and  fed  him.  He  ate  greedily,  and  when  the  broth 
was  gone  looked  as  if  he  would  have  been  glad 
for  more. 

"  Now,  sir,"  says  I,  "  sleep  if  you  can  ;"  with 
which  he  turned  his  head  and  in  a  few  minutes 
was  sound  asleep,  breathing  regularly  and 
deeply. 

CHAPTER  XV, 
THE  PIRATE'S  STORY. 

IT  was  now  time  to  think  of  myself.  The  watch 
showed  the  hour  to  be  after  six.  Whilst  my 
supper  was  preparing  I  went  on  deck  to  close  the 
hatches  to  keep  the  cold  out  of  the  ship,  and 
found  the  weather  changed,  the  wind  having 
shifted  directly  into  the  west,  whence  it  was 
blowing  with  a  good  deal  of  violence  upon  the  ice, 
ringing  over  the  peaks  and  among  the  rocks  with 
a  singular  clanking  noise  in  its  crying,  as  though 
it  brought  with  it  the  echo  of  thousands  of  bells 
pealing  in  some  great  city  behind  the  sea.  It  also 
swept  up  the  gorge  that  went  from  our  hollow  to 
the  edge  of  the  cliff  in  a  noisy  fierce  hooting,  and 
this  blast  was  very  freely  charged  with  the  sprav 
of  the  breakers  which  boiled  along  the  island. 
The  sky  was  overcast  with  flying  clouds  of  the 
true  Cape  Horn  colour  and  appearance. 

closed  the  fore-scuttle,  but  on  stepping  aft 
came  to   the   two    bodies,   the,  sight  of  which 


i4§  TH*  F  ^IIWTI 

brought  me  to  a  stand.     :  re  was   lit 

one,  thought  I,  life  may  be  in  these,  and  I  felt  as 
if  it  would  be  like  murdering  them  to  leave  them 
here  for  the  night.  But,  said  I  to  myself,  after  all, 
these  men  are  certainly  insensible  if  they  be  not 
dead  ;  the  cold  that  freezes  on  deck  cannot  Be 
different  from  the  cold  that  froze  them  below ; 
they'll  not  be  better  off  in  the  cabin  than  here. 
It  will  be  all  the  same  to  them,  and  to-morrow  I 
shall  perhaps  have  the  Frenchman's  help  to  carry 
them  to  the  furnace  and  discover  if  the  vital  spark 
is  still  in  them. 

To  be  candid,  I  was  the  more  easily  persuaded 
to  leave  them  to  their  deck  lodging  by  the  very 
grim,  malignant,  and  savage  appearance  of  the 
great  figure  that  had  leaned  against  the  rail. 
Indeed,  I  did  not  at  all  like  the  notion  of  such 
company  in  the  cabin  through  the  long  night. 
Added  to  this,  his  bulk  was  such  that,  without 
assistance,  1  could  only  have  moved  him  as  you 
move  a  cask,  by  rolling  it ;  and  though  this  might 
have  answered  to  convey  him  to  the  hatch,  I 
stood  to  break  his  arms  and  legs  off,  and 
perhaps  his  head,  so  brittle  was  he  with  frost, 
by  letting  his  own  weight  trundle  him  down  the 
ladder. 

So  I  left  them  to  lie  and  came  away,  flinging  a 
last  look  round,  and  then  closing  the  companion- 
door  upon  me.  The  Frenchman,  as  I  may  call 
him,  was  sleeping  very  heavily  and  snoring 
loudly. 

I  got  my  supper,  and  whilst  I  ate  surveyed  the 
mound  of  clothes  Jie  made  on  the  deck — a  motley 


TUB  PIEATK'S  STOKY.  *    149 

heap  indeed,  with  the  colours  and  the  finery  of 
the  lace  and  buttons  of  the  coats  I  had  piled  upon 
him — and  fell  into  some  startling  considerations 
of  him.  Was  it  possible,  I  asked  myself,  that 
he  could  have  lain  in  his  frozen  stupor  for  fifty 
years  ?  But  why  not  ?  for  suppose  he  had  been 
on  this  ice  but  a  year  only,  nay,  six  months — an 
absurdity  in  the  face  of  the  manifest  age  of  the 
ship  and  her  furniture — would  not  six  months  of 
lifelessness  followed  by  a  resurrection  be  as 
marvellous  as  fifty  years  ?  Had  he  the  same 
aspect  when  the  swoon  of  the  ice  seized  him  as 
he  has  now  ?  I  answered  yes,  for  the  current  of 
life  having  been  frozen,  his  appearance  would 
remain  as  it  was. 

I  lighted  my  pipe  and  sat  smoking,  thinking 
he  would  presently  awake ;  but  his  slumber  was 
as  deep  as  the  stillness  I  had  thawed  him  out 
of  had  been,  and  he  lay  so  motionless  that,  but 
for  his  snoring;  and  harsh  breathing,  I  should  hare 
believed  him  lapsed  into  his  former  state. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  fire  was  venr  low.  Nature 
was  working  out  her  own  way  with  this  Frenchman, 
and  I  determined  to  let  him  sleep  where  he  was, 
and  take  my  chance  of  the  night.  At  all  events 
he  could  not  alarm  me  by  stirring,  for  if  I  heard 
a  movement  I  should  know  what  it  was.  So,  loiter- 
ing to  see  the  last  gleam  of  the  fire  extinguished, 
I  took  my  lanthorn  and  went  to  bed,  but  not  to 
sleep. 

The  full  meaning  of  the  man  awakening  into 
life  out  of  a  condition  into  which  he  had  been 
plunged,  for  all  I  knew,  before  I  was  born,  came 


150  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE, 

upon  me  rcry  riolently  in  the  darkness.  There 
being  nothing  to  divert  my  thoughts,  I  gave  my 
mind  wholly  to  it,  and  I  tell  you  I  found  it  an 
amazing  terrifying  thing  to  happen.  Indeed,  I 
do  not  know  that  the  like  of  such  an  adventure 
was  ever  before  heard  of,  and  I  well  recollect 
thinking  to  myself, "  I  would  give  my  left  hand  to 
know  of  other  cases  of  the  kind — to  be  assured 
that  this  recovery  was  strictly  within  the  bounds 
of  nature,"  that  I  might  feel  I  was  not  alone,  so 
strongly  did  the  thoughts  of  a  satanic  influence 
operating  in  this  business  crowd  upon  me — that  is 
to  say,  as  if  I  was  involuntarily  working  out  some 
plan  of  the  devil. 

The  gale  made  a  great  roaring.  The  ship's  stern 
lay  open  to  the  gorge,  and  but  for  her  steadi 
I  might  have  supposed  myself  at  sea.     There  was 
indeed  an  incessant  thunder  about  my  ears  often 
accompanied    by  the  shock  of   a  mass  of  sprav 
flung  thirty  feet  high,  and    falling  like  sack 
stones  upon    the  deck.     Once  I  felt    the  vessel 
rock ;   I  cannot  tell  the  hour,  but  it  was  long  past 
midnight,  and  by  the  noise  of  the  wind  I  guessed 
it  was  blowing  a  whole  gale.     The  movement 
extraordinary — whether    sideways   or   downwards 
I    could  not  distinguish ;    but,    seasoned   as    my^ 
stomach  was  to  the  motion  of  ships,  this  move- 
ment   set  up  a  nausea    that  lasted    some  while, 
acting    upon  me    as  I    have    since    learned    the 
convulsion  of  an  earthquake  does  upon    people. 
It  took  off  my  mind    from  the  Frenchman,  and 
filled  me  with  a  different  sort  of  alarm  altogether, 
far  it  was  very  evident  the  gale  was  making  the 


THI  PiiuTB's  STOET.  151 

ice  break ;  and,  thought  I  to  myself,  if  we  do  not 
mind  our  eye  we  shall  be  crushed  and  buried. 
But  what  was  to  be  done  ?  To  quit  the  ship  for 
that  piercing  flying  gale,  charged  with  sleet  and 
hail  and  foam,  was  merely  to  languish  for  a 
little  and  then  miserably  expire  of  frost.  No, 
thought  I,  if  the  end  is  to  come  let  it  find 
me  here ;  and  with  that  I  snugged  me  down 
amid  the  coats  and  cloaks  in  my  cot,  and, 
obstinately  holding  my  eyes  closed,  ultimately  fell 
asleep. 

It  was  late  when  I  awoke.  I  lighted  the 
lanthorn,  but  upon  entering  the  passage  that 
led  to  the  cabin  1  observed  by  my  own  posture 
that  the  schooner  had  not  only  heeled  more 
to  larboard,  but  was  further  "  down  by  the  stern  " 
to  the  extent  of  several  feet.  Indeed,  the  angle 
of  inclination  was  now  considerable  enough 
to  bring  my  shoulder  (in  the  passage)  close 
against  the  starboard  side  when  I  stood  erect. 
The  noise  of  the  gale  was  still  in  the  air,  and  the 
booming  and  boiling  of  the  sea  was  uncommonly 
loud.  I  walked  straight  to  the  cook-room,  and, 
putting  the  lanthorn  to  the  Frenchman,  perceived 
that  he  was  still  in  a  heavy  sleep,  and  that  he  had 
lain  through  the  night  precisely  in  the  attitude  in 
which  I  had  left  him.  His  face  was  so  muffled 
that  little  more  than  his  long  hawk's-bill  nose  was 
discernible.  It  was  freezingly  cold,  and  I  made 
haste  to  light  the  fire.  There  was  still  coal  enough 
in  the  corner  to  last  for  the  day,  and  before  long 
the  furnace  was  blazing  cheerfully.  I  went  to  work 
10  make  some  broth  and  fry  some  ham,  and  melt 


15*  THU  FROZEN  Pi*Am 

a  little  block  of  the  ruby-coloured  wine ;  and 
whilst  thus  occupied,  turning  my  head  a  moment 
to  look  at  the  Frenchman,  I  found  him  half 
started  up,  staring  intently  at  me. 

This  sudden  confrontment  threw  me  into  such 
confusion  that  I  could  not  speak.  He  moved  his 
head  from  side  to  side,  taking  a  view  of  the  scene, 
with  an  expression  of  the  most  inimitable  astonish- 
ment painted  upon  his  countenance.  He  then 
brought  the  flat  of  his  hand  with  a  dramatic  blow 
to  his  forehead,  the  scar  on  which  showed  black 
as  ink  to  the  fire-glow,  and  sat  erect. 

"Where  have  I  been?"  he  exclaimed  in 
French. 

"  Sir,"  said  I,  speaking  with  the  utmost  difficulty, 
"  I  do  not  understand  your  language.  I  am 
English.  You  speak  my  tongue.  Will  you 
address  me  in  it  ?  " 

"  English  ! "  he  exclaimed  in  English,  dropping 
his  head  on  one  side,  and  peering  at  me  with  an 
incredible  .air  of  amazement.  "  How  came  you 
here?  You  are  not  of  our  company?  Let  me 
see  .  .  ."  Here  he  struggled  with  recollec- 
tion, continuing  to  stare  at  me.  from  under 
shaggy  eyebrows  as  if  I  was  some  frightful 
vision. 

"lam  a  shipwrecked  British  mariner,"  said  I, 
41  and  have  been  cast  away  upon  this  ice,  where  I 
found  your  schooner." 

"Ha!"  he  interrupted  with  prodigious 
vehemence,  "  certainly ;  we  are  frozen  up — I 
remember.  That  sleep  should  serve  my  memory 
so ! "  He  made  as  if  to  rise,  but  sat  again. 


THB  PiRATi*8  STUB?. 

54  The  cold  is  numbing ;  it  would  weaken  a  lion. 
Give  me  a  hot  drink,  sir." 

I  filled  a  pannikin  with  the  melted  wine,  which 
he  swallowed  thirstily. 

"  More  ! "  cried  he.     "  I  seem  to  want  life." 

Again  I  filled  the  pannikin. 

"Good!"  said  he,  fetching  a  sigh  as  he 
returned  the  vessel ;  "  you  are  very  obliging,  sir. 
If  you  have  food  there,  we  will  eat  together/' 

I  give  the  substance  of  his  speech,  but  not  his 
delivery  of  it,  nor  is  it  necessary  that  I  should 
interpolate  my  rendering  with  the  French  words  he 
used. 

The  broth  being  boiled,  I  gave  him  a  good 
bowl  of  it  along  with  a  plate  of  bacon  and  tongue, 
some  biscuit  and  a  pannikin  of  hot  brandy  and 
water,  all  which  things  I  put  upon  his  knees  as  he 
sat  up  on  the  mattress,  and  to  it  he  fell,  making  a 
rare  meal.  Yet  all  the  while  he  ate  he  acted  like 
a  man  bewitched,  as  well  he  might,  staring  at  me 
and  looking  round  and  round  him,  and  then 
dropping  his  knife  to  strike  his  brow,  as  if  by  that 
kind  of  blow  he  would  quicken  the  activity  of 
memory  there. 

"  There  is  something  wrong,"  said  he  presently. 
"  What  is  it,  sir?  This  is  the  cook-room.  How 
does  it  happen  that  I  am  lying  here  ?  " 

I  told  him  exactly  how  it  was,  adding  that  if  it 
had  not  been  for  his  posture,  which  obliged  me  to 
thaw  in  order  to  carry  him,  he  would  now  be  on 
deck  with  the  others,  awaiting  the  best  funeral  I 
could  give  him. 

"  Who  are  the  others?"  asked  he. 


154  THI  FROZEN  PIRAT* 

"  I  know  not,"  said  I.  "  There  were  four  in  all, 
counting  yourself ;  one  sits  frozen  to  death  on  the 
rocks.  I  met  him  first,  and  took  this  watch  from 
his  pocket  that  I  might  tell  the  time." 

He  took  the  watch  in  his  hands,  and  asked  me 
to  bring  the  lanthorn  close. 

"  Ha  !  "  cried  he,  "  this  was  Mendoza's — the 
captain's.  I  remember  ;  he  took  it  for  the  sake  of 
this  letter  upon  it.  He  lies  dead  on  the  rocks  ? 
We  missed  him,  but  did  not  know  where  he  had 
gone." 

Then,  raising  his  hand  and  impulsively  starting 
upon  the  mattress,  he  cried,  whilst  he  tapped  his 
forehead,  "  It  has  come  back !  I  have  it ! 
Guiseppe  Trentanove  and  I  were  in  the  cabin  ;  he 
had  fallen  blind  with  the  glare  of  the  ice — if  that 
was  it.  We  confronted  each  other.  On  a  sudden 
he  screamed  out.  I  had  put  my  face  into  my 
arms,  and  felt  mvself  dying.  His  cry  aroused  me. 
I  looked  up,  and  saw  him  leaning  back  from  the 
lable  with  his  eyes  fixed  and  horror  in  his 
countenance.  I  was  too  feeble  to  speak — too 
languid  to  rise,  t  watched  him  awhile,  and  then 
the  drowsiness  stole  over  me  again,  and  my  head 
sank,  and  I  remember  no  more. ' 

He  shuddered,  and  extended  the  pannikin  for 
more  liquor.  I  filled  it  with  two-thirds  of  brandy 
and  the  rest  water,  and  he  supped  it  down  as  if  it 
had  been  a  thimbleful  of  wine. 

"  By  the  holy  cross,"  cried  he,  "  but  this  is  very 
wonderful,  though.  How  long  have  you  been  here, 

sk?" 

"  Three  days." 


THE  PILATE'S  STOBT.  155 

"Three  days!  and  I  have  been  in  a  stupor  all 
that  time — never  moving,  never  breathing?" 

"  You  will  have  been  in  a  stupor  longer  than 
that  I  expect,"  said  I. 

"  What  is  this  month  ?  "  he  cried. 

"Julv,"  I  replied. 

"July— July!"  he  muttered.  "Impossible! 
Let  me  see  " — he  began  to  count  on  his  fingers — 
"  we  fell  in  with  the  ice  and  got  locked  in 
November.  We  had  six  months  of  it ;  I  recollect 
no  more.  Six  months  of  it,  sir ;  and  suppose  the 
stupor  came  upon  me  then,  the  month  at  which 
my  memory  stops  would  be  April.  Yet  you  call 
this  July ;  that  is  to  say,  four  months  of  oblivion; 
impossible ! " 

"  What  was  the  year  in  which  you  fell  in  with 
the  ice  ?  "  said  I. 

'  The  year  ?  "  he  exclaimed  in  a  voice  deep  with 
the  wonder  this  question  raised  in  him  ;  "  the  year  ? 
Why,  man,  what  year  but  seventeen  hundred  and 
fifty-three/1' 

"  Good  God !  "  cried  I,  jumping  to  my  feet  with 
terror  at  a  statement  I  had  anticipated,  though  it 
shocked  me  as  a  new  and  frightful  revelation. 
"  Do  you  know  what  year  this  is  ?  " 

He  looked  at  me  without  answering. 

''  It  is  eighteen  hundred  and  one,"  I  cried,  and 
as  I  said  this  I  recoiled  a  step,  fully  expecting 
him  to  leap  up  and  exhibit  a  hundred  demon- 
strations of  horror  and  consternation ;  for  this 
I  am  persuaded  would  have  been  rriy  posture  had 
any  man  roused  me  from  a  slumber  and  told  me  I 
h:>.  rl  been  in  that  condition  for  eifefht-and- forty  years. 


156  TH«  FROZEN 

He  continued  to  view  me  with  a  very  itrange 
and  cunning  expression  in  his  eyes,  the  coolness 
of  which  was  inexpressibly  surprising  and  be- 
wildering and  even  mortifying;  then  presently 
grasping  his  beard,  looked  at  it;  then  put  his 
hands  to  his  face  and  looked  at  them  ;  then  drew 
out  his  feet  and  looked  at  them  ;  then  very  slowly, 
but  without  visible  effort,  stood  up,  swaying  a 
little  with  an  air  of  weakness,  and  proceeded  to 
feel  and  strike  himself  all  over,  swinging  his  arms 
and  using  his  legs ;  after  which  he  sat  down  and 
pulled  the  clothes  over  his  naked  feet,  and  fixing 
his  eyes  on  me  afresh,  said,  "  What  do  you  say 
this  year  is,  iir  ?  " 

"  Eighteen  hundred  and  one,"  I  replied. 

"  Bah  S "  laid  he,  and  shook  his  head  very 
knowingly.  "No  matter;  you  have  been  ship- 
wrecked too  !  Sir,  shipwreck  shuffles  dates  as  a 
player  does  cards,  and  the  best  of  us  will  go  wrong 
in  famine,  loneliness,  cold,  and  peril.  Be  of  good 
cheer,  my  friend ;  all  will  return  to  you.  Sit,  sir, 
that  I  may  hear  your  adventures,  and  I  will  relate 


mine." 


I  saw  how  it  was — he  supposed  me  deranged, 
a  mortifying  construction  to  place  upon  the 
language  of  a  man  who  had  restored  him  to  life ; 
yet  a  few  moments'  reflection  taught  me  to  see 
the  reasonableness  of  it,  for  unless  he  thought  me 
crazy  he  must  conclude  I  spoke  the  truth,  and  it 
was  inconceivable  ht  should  believe  that  he  had 
lain  in  a  frozen  condition  for  eight-and-forty  years. 

I  stirred  the  fire  to  make  more  light  and  sat 
down  near  the  furnace.  His  appearance  was  very 


TV*  Pnumfr  STOBT.  157 

striking.  The  scar  upon  his  forehead  gave  a  rerv 
dark  sullen  look  to  his  brows ;  his  eyes  were  small 
and  were  half  lost  in  the  dusky  hollows  in  which 
they  were  set,  and  I  observed  an  indescribably 
leering,  cunning  expression  in  them,  something  of 
which  I  attributed  to  the  large  quantity  of  liquor 
he  had  swallowed.  This  contrasted  oddly  with 
the  respectable  aspect  he  took  from  his  baldness 
—that  is,  from  the  nakedness  of  his  poll,  for,  as  I 
have  before  said,  his  hair  fell  long  and  plentifully, 
in  a  ring  a  little  above  the  ears,  so  that  you  would 
have  supposed  at  some  late  period  of  his  life  he 
had  been  scalped. 

I  know  not  how  it  was,  but  1  felt  no  joy  in  this 
man's  company.  For  some  companion,  for  some 
one  to  speak  with,  I  had  yearned  again  and  again 
with  heart-breaking  passion ;  and  now  a  living 
man  sat  before  me,  yet  I  was  sensible  of  no  glad- 
ness. In  truth,  I  was  overawed  by  him ;  he 
frightened  me  as  one  risen  from  the  dead.  Here 
was  a  creature  that  had  entered,  as  it  seemed  to 
me,  those  black  portals  from  which  no  man  ever 
returns,  and  had  come  back,  through  my 
instrumentality,  after  hard  upon  fifty  years  of  the 
grave.  Reason  as  I  might  that  it  was  all  perfectly 
in  nature,  that  there  was  nothing  necromantic 
or  diabolic  in  it,  that  it  could  not  have  happened 
had  it  not  been  natural,  my  spirits  were  as  m-ich 
oppressed  and  confounded  by  his  sitting  thor^ 
alive,  talking,  and  watching  me,  as  if,  being  tiuv- 
dead,  life  had  entered  him  on  a  sudden,  jm?  he 

d  risen  and  walked. 

I  have  no  doubt  the  disorder  mv  mind  w*«*  •* 


1 01  THB  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

helped  to  persuade  him  that  (  had  not  the  full 
possession  of  my  senses.  He  ran  his  eye  over  my 
figure  and  then  round  the  cook-room,  and  said,  "  I 
am  impatient  to  leam  your  story,  sir." 

"  Why,  sir,"  said  I,  "  my  story  is  summed  up  in 
what  I  have  already  told  you."  But  that  he  might 
not  be  at  a  loss — for  to  be  sure  he  had  only  very 
newly  collected  his  intellects — I  related  my 
adventures  at  large.  He  drew  nearer  to  the 
furnace  whilst  I  talked,  bringing  his  covering  of 
clothes  along  with  him,  and  held  out  his  great 
hands  to  toast  at  the  fire,  all  the  time  observing 
me  with  scarce  a  wink  of  the  eye.  Arrived  at  the 
end  of  my  tale,  I  told  him  how  only  last  night  I 
had  dragged  his  companion  on  deck,  and  how  he 
was  to  have  followed  but  for  his  posture. 

"  Ha !  "  cried  he,  "  you  might  have  caused  my 
flesh  to  mortify  by  laying  me  close  to  the 
fire.  It  would  have  been  better  to  rub  me  with 


•now" 


He  poked  up  one  foot  after  the  other  to  count 
his  toes,  fearing  some  had  come  away  with  his 
stockings,  and  then  said, "  Well,  and  how  long 
should  I  have  slept  had  you  not  come  ?  Another 
week  1  By  St.  Paul,  I  might  have  died.  Have 
you  my  stockings,  sir  ?  M 

I  gave  them  to  him,  and  he  pulled  them  over 
his  legs  and  then  drew  on  his  boots  and  stood  up, 
the  coats  and  wraps  tumbling  off  htm  as  he 
rose. 

I  can  stand,**  says  he.     *  That  is  good." 

But  in  attempting  to  take  a  step  he  reeled  and 
»  *u  •  aav*  fallen  had  I  not  grasped  his 


TBB  PI*ATB'»  STORY. 

M  Patience,  my  friend,  patience  ! "  lit  muttered 
as  if  to  himself.  "  I  must  lie  a  little  longer/'  and 
with  that  he  kneeled  and  then  lay  along  the 
mattress.  He  breathed  heavily  and  pointed  to 
the  pannikin.  I  asked  him  whether  he  would 
have  wine  or  brandy  ;  he  answered,  "  Wine,"  so  I 
melted  a  draught,  which  dose,  I  thought,  on  top 
of  what  he  had  already  taken,  would  send  him  to 
sleep ;  but  instead  it  quickened  his  spirits,  and 
with  no  lack  of  life  in  his  voice  he  said,  "  What  is 
the  condition  of  the  vessel  ?  " 

I  told  him  that  she  was  stftl  high  and  dry,  add- 
ing that  during  the  night  some  sort  of  change  had 
happened  which  I  should  presently  go  on  deck  to 
remark. 

"  Think  you,"  says  he,  "  that  there  is  any  chance 
of  her  ever  being  liberated  ?  " 

I  answered,  "  Yes,  but  not  yet ;  that  is,  if  the 
ice  in  breaking  doesn't  destroy  her.  The  summer 
season  has  yet  to  come,  and  we  are  progressing 
north  ;  but  now  that  you  are  with  me  it  will  be  a 
question  for  us  to  settle,  whether  we  are  to  wait 
for  the  ice  to  release  the  schooner  or  endeavour 
to  effect  our  escape  by  other  means." 

A  curious  gleam  of  cunning  satisfaction  shone 
in  his  eyes  as  he  looked  at  me  ;  he  then  kept 
silence  for  some  moments,  lost  in  thought. 

"  Pray,"  said  I,  breaking  in  upon  him,  "what 
ship  is  this  ?  " 

He  started,  deliberated  an  instant,  and  ao- 
red,  "  The  Boca  del  Dragon." l 

1  So  in  Mr.  Rodney's  III. 


t6o  Tin  Fiona  Pnurm. 

"ASpanianl?" 

He  nodded. 

"  She  was  a  pirate  ?"  said  I. 

"  How  do  you  know  that  ?  "  he  cried  with  a 
sudden  fierceness. 

"  Sir,"  said  I,  "  I  am  a  British  sailor  who  has 
used  the  sea  for  some  years,  and  know  the 
difference  between  a  handspike  and  a  poop- 
lanthorn.  But  what  matters  ?  She  is  a  pirate  no 
longer. " 

He  let  his  eves  fall  from  my  face  and  gazed 
round  him  with  the  air  of  one  who  cannot  yet 
persuade  his  understanding  of  the  realities  of  the 
scene  he  moves  in. 

"Tut!"  cried  he  presently,  addressing  him- 
self, "  what  matters  the  truth,  as  you  say  ?  Yes, 
the  Boca  del  Dragon  is  a  pirate.  You  have 
of  course  rummaged  her,  and  guessed  her 
character  by  what  you  found  ?  " 

"  I  met  with  enough  to  excite  my  suspicion," 
said  I.  "  The  ship's  company  of  such  a  craft  as 
this  do  not  usually  go  clothed  in  lace  and 
rich  cloaks,  and  carry  watches  of  this  kind," 
tapping  mv  breast,  "  m  their  fobs  and  hand- 
fuls  of  gola  in  their  pocket*." 

"Unless "said  he. 

"  Unless,"  I  answered,  "  their  flag  is  as  black 
as  our  prospects." 

"  You  think  them  black?"  cried  he,  the  look  of 
resentment  that  was  darkening  his  face  dying  out 
of  it.  "  The  vessel  is  sound,  is  not  she  ?  ' 

i  replied  that  she  appeared  so,  but  it  would  bt 
impossible  to  W  sure  until  she  floated. 


THI  PiftAri's  STOET.  161 

"The  stores?" 
'  They  are  plentiful." 

1  They  should  be  !  "  he  cried  ;  "  we  have  the 
liquor  and  stores  of  a  galleon  and  two  carracks  in 
our  hold,  apart  from  what  we  originally  laid  in  for 
the  cruise.  Everything  will  have  been  kept  sweet 
by  the  cold." 

"  All  the  stores  seem  sound,"  said  I  ;  "we  shall 
not  starve — no,  not  if  we  were  to  be  imprisoned 
here  for  three  years.  But  all  the  same  our 
prospects  are  black,  for  here  is  the  ship  high  and 
fixed;  the  ice  in  parting  may  crush  her,  and  we 
have  no  boat" 

"  May,  may ! "  he  cried  with  a  Frenchman's 
vehemence.  '  You  have  m*y  and  you  also  have 
may  not  in  your  language.  Let  me  feel  my 
strength  improving  ;  we  shall  then  find  means  of 
throwing  a  light  upon  these  black  prospects  of 
yours." 

He  smiled,  or  rather  grinned,  his  fangs  making 
the  latter  term  fitter  for  the  mirthless  grimace 
he  made. 

"  May  I  ask  your  name?"  said  I. 

"Jules  Tassard,  at  your  service,"  said  he, 
"  third  in  command  W  the  Boca  dtl  Dr*g*n}  but 
good  as  Mate  TrenUnove,  and  good  as  Captain 
Mendoza,  and  good  as  the  cabin  boy  Fernando 
Prado;  for  we  pirates  are  republicans,  sir,  we 
know  no  social  distinctions  save  those  we  order 
for  the  convenience  of  working  ship.  Now  let  me 
tell  you  the  story  of  our  disaster.  We  had  come 
out  of  the  Spanish  Main  into  the  South  Seas, 
partly  to  escape  some  British  and  French  cruisers 


its  THE  FROZE*  Pnum 

which  were  atter  us  and  others  ot  our  kind,  and 
partly  because  ill-luck  was  against  us,  and  we 
could  not  find  our  account  in  those  waters.  We 
sailed  in  December  two  years  ago " 

"  Making  the  year ?  "  I  interrupted. 

He  started,  and  then  grinned  again. 

"  Ah,  to  be  sure  !  "  cried  he,  "  this  is  eighteen 
hundred  and  one;  but  to  keep  my  tale  in 
countenance,"  he  went  on  in  a  satirical  apologetic 
way,  "  let  me  call  the  year  in  which  we  sailed  for 
the  South  Sea  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty-one. 
What  matters  forty  or  fifty  years  to  the  ship- 
wrecked? Is  not  one  day  of  an  open  boat,  with 
no  society  but  the  devils  of  memory  and  no  hope 
but  the  silence  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  an 
eternity?  Fill  me  that  pannikin,  my  friend.  I 
thank  you.  To  proceed :  we  cruised  some 
months  in  the  South  Sea  and  took  a  number  of 
ships.  One  was  a  privateer  that  had  plundered  a 
British  Indiaman  in  the  Southern  Ocean,  and  had 
entered  the  South  Sea  by  New  Holland.  This 
fellow  was  full  of  fine  clothes  and  had  some  silver 
in  her.  We  took  what  we  wanted,  and  let  her  go 
with  her  people  under  hatches,  her  yards  square, 
her  helm  amidships,  and  her  cabin  on  fire.  Our 
maxim  is,  '  No  witnesses  ! '  That  is  the  pirate's 
philosophy.  Who  gives  us  quarter  unless  it  be  to 
hang  us  ?  But  to  continue  :  we  did  handsomely, 
but  were  a  long  time  about  it,  and  after  careening 
and  filling  up  with  water  'twixt  San  Carlos  and 
Chiloe  we  set  sail  for  the  Antilles.  Like  your  brig, 
we  were  blown  south.  The  weather  was  ferocious. 
Gale  after  gale  thundered  down  upon  us,  forcing 


Tn  Pnutn's  STOIT.  163 

us  to  fly  before  it.  We  lost  all  reckoning  of  our 
position ;  for  days,  for  weeks,  sea  and  sky  were 
enveloped  in  clouds  of  snow,  in  the  heart  of  which 
drove  our  frozen  schooner.  We  were  none  of  us 
of  a  nationality  fit  to  encounter  these  regions  ; 
we  carried  most  of  us  the  curly  hair  of  the 
sun,  the  chocolate  cheek  of  the  burning  zone, 
and  the  ice  chained  the  crew,  crouching  like 
Lascars,  below.  We  swept  past  many  vast 
icebergs,  which  would  leap  on  a  sudden  out  of 
the  white  whirl  of  thickness,  often  so  close 
aboard  that  the  recoil  of  the  .  surge  striking 
against  the  mass  would  flood  our  decks.  At  aH 
moments  of  the  day  and  night  we  were  prepared 
to  feel  the  shock  of  the  vessel  crushing  her  bows 
against  one  of  these  stupendous  hills.  The  cabin 
resounded  with  Salves  and  Aves,  with  invocations 
to  the  saints,  promises,  curses,  and  litanies.  The 
cold  does  not  make  men  of  the  Spaniards,  who 
are  but  indifferent  seamen  in  temperate  climes,  and 
we  were  chiefly  Spanish  with  consciences  as  red 
as  your  English  flag." 

He  grinned,  emptied  the  pannikin,  and 
stretched  his  hands  to  the  nre  to  warm 
them. 

"One  morning,  the  weather  haying  cleared 
somewhat,  we  found  ourselves  surrounded  by  ice. 
A  great  chain  floated  ahead  of  us,  extending  far 
into  the  south.  The  gale  blew  dead  on  to  this 
coast ;  we  durst  not  haul  the  schooner  to  the 
wind,  and  our  only  chance  lay  in  discovering 
some  bay  where  we  might  find  shelter.  Such  a 
bay  it  was  my  good  luck  to  spy,  lying  directly  ic 


1 64  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE, 

a  line  with  the  ship's  head.  It  was  formed  of  -A 
great  steep  of  ice  jutting  a  long  way  slantingly 
into  the  sea,  the  width  between  the  point  and  the 
main  being  about  a  third  of  a  mile.  I  seized  the 
helm,  and  shouted  to  the  men  to  hoist  the  head 
of  the  mainsail  that  she  might  round  to  when  i 
put  the  helm  down.  But  the  fellows  were  in  a 
panic  terror  and  stood  gaping  at  what  they 
regarded  as  their  doom,  calling  upon  the  Virgin 
and  all  the  saints  for  help  and  mercy.  Into  this 
bay  did  we  rush  on  top  of  a  huge  sea,  Trentanove 
and  the  captain  and  I  swinging  with  set  teeth  at 
the  tiller,  that  was  hard  a-lee  ;  she  came  round, 
but  with  such  way  upon  her  that  she  took  a  long 
shelving  beach  of  ice  and  ran  up  it  to  the  distance 
of  half  her  own  length,  and  there  she  lay,  with 
her  rudder  within  touch  of  the  wash  of  the  water. 
The  men,  regarding  the  schooner  as  lost,  and 
concluding  that  if  she  went  to  pieces  her  boats 
would  be  destroyed,  and  with  them  their  only 
chance  to  escape  from  the  ice,  fell  frantic  and 
lost  their  wits  altogether.  They  roared,  '  To  the 
boats !  to  the  boats ! '  The  captain  em 
voured  to  bring  them  to  their  senses  ;  he  and  I 
and  the  mate,  and  Joam  Barros,  the  boatswain— 
a  Portuguese — went  among  them  pistols  in  hand, 
entreating,  cursing;  threatening.  '  Think  of  the 
plunder  in  this  hold  !  Will  you  abandon  it  with- 
out an  effort  to  save  it  ?  What  think  you  are 
your  chances  for  life  in  open  boats  in  this  sea  ? 
The  schooner  lies  protected  here  ;  the  weather 
will  moderate  presently,  and  we  may  then  be  able 
to  slide  her  off.'  But  reason  as  we  would  the 


THE  PIRATE'S  STOUT.  1*5 

cowardly    dogs    refused    to    listen.     They    had 

broached  a  spirit- cask  aft,  and  passed  the  liquor 
along  the  decks  whilst  they  hoisted  the  pinnace 
out  of  the  hold  and  got  the  other  boats  over. 
The  drink  maddened,  yet  left  them  wild  with  fear 
too.  They  would  not  wait  to  come  at  the  treasure 
in  the  run — the  fools  believed  the  ship  would  tumble 
to  pieces  as  she  stood — but  entered  the  forecastle 
and  the  officers'  cabins,  and  routed  about  for 
whatever  money  and  trinkets  thev  might  stuff 
into  their  pockets  without  loss  of  time  ;  and  then 
provisioning  the  boats,  they  called  to  us  to  join 
them,  but  we  said,  No,  on  which  they  ran  the 
boats  down  to  the  water,  tumbled  into  them,  and 
pulled  away  round  the  point  of  ice.  We  lost 
sight  of  them  then,  and  I  have  little  doubt  that 
they  all  perished  shortly  afterwards." 

He  ceased.     I  was  anxious  to  hear  more. 

'  You  had  been  six  months  on  the  ice  when 
the  stupor  fell  upon  you  ?  " 

"  Ay,  about  six  months.  The  ice  gathered 
about  us  and  built  us  in.  I  recollect  it  was  three 
days  after  we  stranded  that,  going  on  deck,  I  saw 
the  bay  (as  I  term  it)  filled  with  ice.  We  drew 
up  several  plans  to  escape,  but  none  satisfied  us. 
Besides,  sir,  we  had  a  treasure  on  board  which 
we  had  risked  our  necks  to  get,  and  we  were  pre- 
pared to  go  on  imperilling  our  lives  to  save  it. 
Twas  natural.  We  had  a  great  store  of  coal 
forwards  and  amidships,  for  we  had  faced  the 
Horn  in  coming  and  knew  what  we  had  to  expect  in 
returning.  We  were  also  richly  stocked  with 
provisions  and  drink  of  ail  sorts.  There  were  but 


1 64  Tm  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

Jour  of  us,  and  we  deal;  we  had  as  if  we 

^ned  it  _should  la;-  y    years.     But  the 

was  frightful ;  it  was  not  in  flesh  and  blood 
to  stand  it.  One  day — we  had  been  locked  up 
about  five  months — Mendoza  said  he  would  get 
upon  the  rocks  and  take  a  view  of  the  sea.  He 
did  not  return.  The  others  were  too  weak  to 
seek  him,  and  they  were  half  blind  besides  ;  I 
went,  but  the  ice  was  full  of  caves  and  hollows, 
and  the  like,  and  I  could  not  find  him,  nor  could  I 
look  for  him  long,  the  cold  being  the  hand  of 
death  itself  up  there.  The  time  went  by  ;  Tren- 
tanove  went  stone-blind,  and  I  had  to  put  food 
and  drink  into  his  hands  that  he  might  live.  A 
week  before  the  stupor  came  upon  me  I  went  on 
deck  and  saw  Joam  Barros  leaning  at  the  rail.  I 
called  to  him,  but  he  made  no  reply, 
approached  and  looked  at  him,  and  found  him 
frozen.  Then  happened  what  I  have  told  you. 
We  were  in  the  cabin,  the  mate  seated  at  the 
table,  waiting  for  me  to  lead  and  support  him  to 
the  cook-room,  for  he  was  so  weak  he  could 
scarce  carry  his  weight.  A  sudden  faintness 
seized  me,  and  I  sank  down  upon  the  bench 
opposite  him,  letting  my  head  fall  upon  my 
arms.  His  cry  startled  me — I  looked  up — saw 
him  as  I  have  said ;  but  the  cabin  then  turned 
black,  my  head  sank  again,  and  I  remember  no 
more." 

He  paused  and  then  cried  in  French,  "  That  is 
all  !  They  are  dead — Jules  Tassard  lives  !  The 
devil  is  loyal  to  his  own !  "  and  with  that  he  lay 
bark  and  burst  into  laughter. 


!  nu&  or  A  GUUT  T&BASU&B.        167 

*  And  thii,"  said  I,  *  was  in  seventeen  hundred 
and  fifty-three  ?  " 

'  Yes,"  he  answered  ;  "  and  this  is  eighteen 
hundred  and  one — eight-and-forty  years  after- 
wards, hey  ?"  and  he  laughed  out  again.  "I've 
talked  so  much,"  said  he,  "  that,  d'ye  know,  I 
think  another  nap  will  do  me  good.  What  coals 
have  you  found  in  the  ship  ?  " 

I  told  him. 

"  Good,"  he  cried  ;  "  we  can  keep  ourselves 
warm  for  some  time  to  come,  anyhow. 

And  so  saying,  he  pulled  a  rug  up  to  his  nose 
and  shut  his  eyes. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

I  HEAR  OP  A  GREAT  TREASURE. 

I  LIGHTED  a  pipe  and  sat  pondering  his  story  a 
little  while.  There  was  no  doubt  he  had  given 
me  the  exact  truth  so  far  as  his  relation  of  it 
went.  As  it  was  certain  then  that  the  Boca  del 
Dragon  (as  she  was  called)  had  been  fixed  in  the 
ice  for  hard  upon  fifty  years,  the  conclusion  I 
formed  was  that  she  had  been  blown  by  some 
hundreds  of  leagues  further  south  than  the  point 
to  which  the  Laughing  Mary  had  been  driven  ; 
that  this  ice  in  which  she  was  entangled  was  not 
then  drifting  northwards,  but  was  in  the  grasp  of 
some  polar  current  that  trended  it  south-easterly ; 
that  in  due  course  it  was  carried  to  the  Antarctic 
main  of  ice,  where  it  lay  compacted ;  after  which, 
through  stress  of  weather  or  by  the  agency  of  a 
particular  temperature,  a  great  mass  of  it  broke 


i6S  THI  Ft  or  UN 

away  and  •tarted  on  that  northward  course  which 
berji  of  all  magnitude  take  when  they  are  ruptured 
frem  the  frozen  continent. 

This  theory  may  be  disputed,  but  it  matters 
not.  My  business  is  to  relate  what  befell  me ;  if 
I  do  my  share  honestly  the  candid  reader  will  not, 
I  believe,  quarrel  with  me  for  not  being  able  to 
explain  everything  as  I  go  along. 

The  Frenchman  snored,  and  I  sat  considering 
him.  The  impression  he  had  made  upon  me  was 
not  agreeable.  To  be  sure  he  had  suffered 
heavily,  and  there  was  something  not  displeasing 
in  the  spirit  he  discovered  in  telling  the  story — a 
spirit  I  am  unable  to  communicate,  as  it  owed 
everything  to  French  vivacity  largely  spiced  with 
devilment,  and  to  sudden  turns  and  ejaculations 
beyond  the  capacity  of  my  pen  to  imitate.  But  a 
professional  fierceness  ran  through  it  too ;  it  was 
as  if  he  had  licked  his  chops  when  he  talked  of 
dismissing  the  captured  ship  with  her  people 
confined  below  and  her  cabin  on  fire.  He  had 
been  as  good  as  dead  for  nearly  fifty  years,  yet  he 
brought  with  him  into  life  exactly  the  same 
qualities  he  had  carried  with  him  in  his  exit. 
Hence  I  never  now  hear  that  expression  taken 
from  the  Latin,  "  Of  the  dead  speak  nothing  unless 
good,"  without  despising  it  as  an  unworthy  con- 
cession to  sentiment ;  Tor  I  have  not  the  least 
doubt  in  my  mind  that,  spite  of  deathbed 
pentances  and  all  the  horrors  which  crowd  upon 
the  imagination  of  a  bad  man  in  his  last  moments 
— I  say  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  of  every 
hundred  persons  who  die,  ninety-nine  of  them, 


I  HEAR  or  A  GREAT  TREASURB.        169 

could  they  be  raised  from  the  dead,  no  matter 
how  many  years  or  even  centuries  they  might 
have  lain  in  their  graves,  would  exhibit  their 
original  natures,  and  pursue  exactly  the  same 
courses  which  made  them  loved  or  scorned  or 
feared  or  neglected  before,  which  brought  them  to 
the  gallows  or  which  qualified  them  to  die  in 
peace  with  faces  brightening  to  the  opening 
heavens.  If  Nero  did  not  again  fire  Rome  he 
would  be  equal  to  crimes  as  great,  and  desire 
nothing  better  than  the  opportunity  for  them. 
Caesar  would  again  be  the  tyrant,  and  the  sword 
of  Brutus  would  once  more  fulfil  its  mission. 
Richard  III.  would  emerge  in  his  winding-sheet 
with  the  same  humpbacked  character  in  which  he 
had  expired,  the  Queen  of  Scots  return  warm 
to  her  gallantries,  and  the  Stuarts  repeat  those 
blunders  and  crimes  which  terminated  in  the 
headsman  or  in  banishment. 

But  these  are  my  thoughts  of  to-day ;  I  was  of 
another  temper  whilst  I  sat  smoking  and  listening 
to  the  snoring  of  Monsieur  Jules  Tassard.  Now 
that  I  had  a  companion  should  I  be  able  to  escape 
from  this  horrid  situation?  He  had  spoken  of 
chests  of  silver — where  was  the  treasure  ?  in  the 
run  ?  There  might  be  booty  enough  in  the  hold 
to  make  a  great  man,  a  fine  gentleman  of  me 
ashore.  It  would  be  a  noble  ending  to  an  amazing 
adventure  to  come  off  with  as  much  money  as 
would  render  me  independent  for  life,  and  enable 
me  to  turn  my  back  for  ever  upon  the  hardest 
calling  to  which  the  destiny  of  man  can  wed  him. 

Of  such  were  the  fancies  which  hurried  through 


my  mind,  coupled  with  visitations  of  awe  and 
wonder  when  I  cast  my  eyes  upon  the  sleeping 
Frenchman.  After  all  it  was  ridiculous  that  1 
should  feel  mortified  because  he  supposed  me 
crazy  in  the  matter  of  dates.  How  was  it  con- 
ceivable  he  should  believe  he  had  lain  lifeless  for 
eight-and-forty  years  ?  I  knew  a  man  who  after 
a  terrible  adventure  had  slept  three  days  and 
nights  without  stirring;  the  assurances  of  the 
people  about  him  failed  to  persuade  him  that  he 
had  slumbered  so  long,  and  it  was  not  until  he 
walked  abroad  and  met  a  hundred  evidences  as  to 
the  passage  of  the  time  during  which  he  had 
slept  that  he  allowed  himself  to  become  coo- 
vinced. 

I  wished  to  see  how  the  schooner  lay  and  what 
change  had  befallen  the  ice  in  the  night,  and 
went  on  deck.  It  was  blowing  a  whole  gale  of 
wind  from  the  north-west.  Inside  the  ship,  with 
the  hatches  on,  and  protected  moreover  oy  the 
sides  of  the  hollow  in  which  she  lay,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  guess  at  the  weight  of  the 
gale,  though  all  along  I  had  supposed  it  to 
be  storming  pretty  fiercely  bv  the  thunderous 
humming  noise  which  resounded  in  the  cabin. 
But  I  had  no  notion  that  so  great  a  wind  raged 
till  I  gained  the  deck  and  heard  the  prodigious 
bellowing  of  it  above  the  rocks.  The  sky  was 
one  great  cloud  of  slate,  and  there  was  no  flying 
darknesi  or  yellow  scud  to  give  the  least  move- 
ment of  life  to  it.  The  sea  was  swelling  very 
furiously,  and  I  could  divine  its  tempestuous 
character  by  clouds  of  ipray  which  sped  like 


I  num  or  A  GREAT  TRBASU**.        171 

volumes  of  steam  under  the  sullen  dusky  heavens 
high  over  the  mastheads.  The  schooner  lay  with 
a  list  of  about  fifteen  degrees  and  her  bows  high 
cocked.  I  looked  over  the  stern  and  saw  that 
the  ice  had  sunk  there,  and  that  there  were  twenty 
great  rents  and  yawning  seams  where  I  had  before 
noticed  but  one.  A  vast  block  of  ice  had  fallen 
on  the  starboard  side,  and  lay  so  close  on  the 
quarter  that  I  could  have  sprung  on  to  it.  No 
other  marked  changes  were  observable,  but  there 
were  a  hundred  sounds  to  assure  me  that  neither 
the  sea  nor  the  gale  was  wholly  wasting  its 
strength  upon  this  crystal  territory,  and  that  if  I 
thought  proper  to  climb  the  slope  and  expose 
myself  to  the  wind,  I  should  behold  a  face  of  ice 
somewhat  different  from  what  I  had  before  gazed 
upon. 

But  the  bitter  cold  held  me  in  dread,  and  there 
was  no  need  besides  for  me  to  take  a  survey.  All 
that  concerned  me  lay  in  the  hollow  in  which  the 
schooner  was  frozen ;  but  so  far  as  the  slopes  were 
concerned  I  could  see  nothing  to  render  me 
uneasy.  The  declivities  were  gradual,  and  there 
was  little  fear  of  even  a  violent  convulsion  throwing 
the  ice  upon  us.  The  danger  lay  below,  under 
the  keel ;  if  the  ice  split,  then  down  would  drop 
the  ship  and  stave  herself,  or  if  she  escaped  that 
peril  she  must  be  so  wedged  as  to  render  the 
least  further  pressure  of  the  ice  against  her  sides 
destructive. 

I  was  about  to  go  below  again,  when  my  eve 
was  taken  by  the  two  figures  lying  upon  the 
deck.  No  dead  bodies  ever  looked  more  dead, 


TH«  FROZIM  PIRATE. 

but  after  the  wondrous  restoration  of  the  French- 
man I  could  not  view  their  forms  without  fancying 
that  they  were  but  as  he  had  been,  and  that  if 
they  were  carried  to  the  furnace  and  treated  with 
brandy  and  rubbing  and  the  like  they  might  be 
brought  to.  Full  of  thoughts  concerning  them  I 
stepped  into  the  cabin,  and,  going  to  the  cook- 
room,  found  Tassard  still  heavilv  sleeping.  The 
coal  in  the  corner  was  low,  and  as  it  wanted  an 
hour  of  dinner-time  I  took  the  lanthorn  and  a 
bucket  and  went  into  the  forepeak,  and  after 
several  journeys  stocked  up  a  good  provision  of 
coal  in  the  corner.  I  made  noise  enough,  but 
Tassard  slept  on.  When  this  was  ended  I  boiled 
some  water  to  cleanse  myself,  and  then  set  about 
getting  the  dinner  ready. 

The  going  into  the  forepeak  had  put  my  mind 
upon  the  treasure,  which,  as  I  had  gathered  from 
the  Frenchman's  narrative,  was  somewhere  hidden 
in  the  schooner — in  the  run,  as  I  doubted  not ;  I 
mean  in  the  hold,  under  the  lazarette,  for  you  will 
recollect  that,  being  weary  and  half-perished  with 
the  cold,  I  had  turned  my  back  on  that  dark  part 
after  having  looked  into  the  powder-room.  All 
the  time  I  was  fetching  the  coal  and  dressing  the 
dinner  my  imagination  was  on  fire  with  fancies  of 
the  treasure  in  this  ship,  The  Frenchman  had 
told  me  that  they  had  been  well  enough  pleased 
with  their  hauls  in  the  South  Sea  to  resolve  them 
upon  heading  round  the  Horn  for  their  haunt, 
whertver  it  might  be,  in  the  Spanish  main ;  and  I 
had  too  good  an  understanding  of  the  character 
of  pirates  to  believe  that  they  would  have  quitted 


or  A  GREAT  TRBABUUU        173 

ft  rich  hunting-field  before  they  had  handsomely 
lined  their  pocketf .  What,  then,  was  the  treasure 
in  the  run,  if  indeed  it  were  there  ?  I  recalled  a 
dozen  stories  of  tht  doings  of  the  buccaneers, 
not  to  speak  of  the  famous  Acapulco  ship 
taken  by  Anson  a  little  before  the  year  in  which 
the  Boca  tUl  Dragon  was  fishing  in  those 
waters ;  and  I  feasted  my  fancy  with  all  sorts  of 
sparkling  dreams  of  gold  and  silver  and  precious 
stones,  of  the  costly  ecclesiastical  furniture  of 
New  Spain,  of  which  methought  I  found  a  hint 
in  that  silver  crucifix  in  the  cabin,  of  rings, 
sword-hilts,  watches,  buckles,  snuff-boxes,  and  the 
like.  Lord!  thought  I,  that  this  island  were  of 
good  honest  mother  earth  instead  of  ice,  that 
we  might  bury  the  pirate's  booty  if  we  could  not 
save  the  ship,  and  make  a  princely  mine  of  its 
grave,  ready  for  the  mattock  should  we  survive  to 
fetch  it ! 

I  was  mechanically  stirring  the  saucepan  full 
of  broth  I  had  prepared,  lost  in  these  golden 
thoughts,  when  the  Frenchman  suddenly  sat  up  on 
his  mattress. 

"  Ha  1"  cried  he,  sniffing  vigorously,  "I  smell 
something  good — something  I  am  ready  for. 
There  is  no  physic  like  sleep,"  and  with  thaf  he 
stretched  out  his  arms  with  a  great  yawn,  then  rose 
very  agilely,  kicking  the  clothes  and  mattress  on 
one  side  and  bringing  a  bench  close  to  the 
furnace.  "  What  time  is  it,  sir  ?  " 

"Something  after  twelve  by  the  captain's 
watch,"  said  I,  pulling  it  out  and  looking  at  it. 
"  But  'tis  guesswork  time." 


174  TKB  PEOZXX  Pnum 

"  The  *q*V«fft'x  -match  f  "  cried  he,  with  *  short 

loud  lauph.      '  You  are  modest,  Mr. * 

"  Paul  Rodney,"  said  I,  seeing  he  stopped  for 
my  name. 

'Yes,  modest,  Mr.  Paul  Rodney.  That 
watch  is  yours,  sir;  and  you  mean  it  shall  be 
yours.'* 

"  Well,  Mr.  Tassard,"  said  I,  colouring  in  spite 
of  myself,  though  he  could  not  witness  the 
change  in  such  a  light  as  that,  "I  felt  this, 
that  if  I  left  the  watch  in  the  captain's  pocket 
it  was  bound  to  go  to  the  bottom  ultimately, 
and " 

"  Bah  1 "  he  interrupted,  with  a  violent  flourish 
of  the  hand.  "Let  us  save  the  schooner,  if 
possible ;  there  will  be  more  than  one  watch  for 
your  pocket,  more  than  one  doubloon  for  your 
purse.  Meanwhile,  to  dinner!  My  stupor  has 
converted  me  into  an  empty  hogshead,  and  it  will 
take  me  a  fortnight  of  hard  eating  to  feel  that  I 
have  broken  my  fast." 

With  a  blow  of  the  chopper  he  struck  off  a 
lump  of  the  frozen  wine,  and  then  fell  to,  eating 
perhaps  as  a  man  might  be  expected  to  eat  who 
had  not  had  a  meal  for  eight-and-forty  years. 

4  There  are  two  of  your  companions  on  deck," 
said  I. 

He  started 

"  Frozen,"  I  continued ;  *  they'll  be  the  bodies 
•4  Trentanove  and  Joam  Barros  J  * 

He  nodded. 

*  There  Is  no  re*»on  why  they  should  be  deader 
were.     It  is  true  that  Barros  kas  beta 


I  nu*  or  A  GKBAT  Tu 


on  deck  whilst  you  hare  been  below  ;  but  after 
you  pass  a  certain  degree  of  cold  fiercer  rigours 
cannot  signify." 

"  What  do  you  propose?  "  said  he,  looking  at 
me  oddly. 

"  Why,  that  we  should  carry  them  to  the  fire 
and  rub  them,  and  bring  them  to  if  we  can." 

"  Why  ?  " 

I  was  staggered  by  his  indifference,  for  I  had 
believed  he  would  have  shown  himself  very  eager 
to  restore  his  old  companions  and  shipmates  to 
life.  I  was  searching  for  an  answer  to  his  strange 
inquiry,  "  Why  ?  "  when  he  proceeded,  — 

"  First  of  all,  my  friend  Trentanove  was  stone- 
blind,  and  Barros  nearly  blind.  Unless  you 
could  return  them  their  sight  with  their  life 
they  would  curse  you  for  disturbing  them.  Better 
the  blackness  of  death  than  the  blackness  of  life.1' 

"There  is  the  body  of  the  captain,"  said  I. 

He  grinned. 

"  Let  them  sleep,"  said  he.  "  Do  you  know 
that  they  are  cutthroats,  who  would  reward  your 
kindness  with  the  poniard  that  you  might  not 
tell  tales  against  them  or  claim  a  share  of  the 
treasure  in  this  vessel  ?  Of  all  desperate  villains 
I  never  met  the  like  of  Barros.  He  loved  blood 
even  better  than  money.  He'd  quench  his  thirst 
before  an  engagement  with  gunpowder  mixed  in 
brandy.  I  once  saw  him  choke  a  man  —  tut  !  he 
is  very  well  —  leave  him  to  his  repose." 

In  the  glow  of  the  fire  he  looked  uncommonly 
sardonic  and  wild,  with  his  long  beard,  bald  head, 
flowing  hair,  shaggy  brows,  and  little  cunning  eyes, 


176  THE  FfcOZBM  PIBAI*. 

which  seemed  in  their  smallness  to  share  in  His 
grin,  and  yet  did  not ;  and  though  to  be  sure  he 
was  some  one  to  talk  to  and  to  make  plans  with 
for  our  escape,  yet  I  felt  that  if  he  were  to  fall 
into  a  stupor  again  it  would  net  be  my  hands  that 
should  chafe  him  into  being. 

"  You  knew  those  men  in  life,"  said  I.  "  If  the 
others  are  of  the  same  pattern  as  the  Portuguese, 
by  all  means  let  them  he  frozen." 

"  But,  my  friend,"  said  he,  calling  me  mon  *mi, 
which  I  translate,  "that's  not  it,  either.  Do 
you  know  the  ralue  of  the  booty  in  this 
schooner  ? " 

I  answered,  No  ;  how  was  1  to  know  it  ?  I  had 
met  with  nothing  but  wearing  apparel,  and  some 
pieces  of  money,  and  a  few  watches  in  the  fore- 
castle. He  knit  his  brows  with  a  fierce  suspicious 
gleam  in  his  eyes. 

"But  you  hare  searched  the  Yessel?"  bo 
cried. 

"  I  have  searched,  a*  you  call  it— that  is,  I 
have  crawled  through  the  hoU  as  far  as  the 
powder-room." 

"And  further  aft  ?" 

"  No,  not  further  aft" 

His  countenance  cleared. 

"  You  scared  me  1 "  said  be,  fetching  a  deep 
breath.  "  I  was  afraid  that  some  one  had  been 
beforehand  with  us.  But  it  is  not  conceivable. 
No !  we  shall  look  for  it  presently,  and  we  shall 
find  it." 

"  Find  what,  Mr.  Tassmrd  1*  nld  I. 

Ho  bold  i*  the  fingers  of  bis  right  band »  MOM, 


I  HKA*  or  A  GKXAT  TRKASUKI.         177 

two,  three,  four,  fire — fire  chests  of  plate  and 
money;  one,  two,  three — three  cases  of  virgin 
silver  in  ingots ;  one  chest  of  gold  ingots ;  one 

case  of  jewellery.  In  all "  he  paused  to  enter 

into  a  calculation,  moving  his  lips  briskly  as  he 
whispered  to  himself — -/'between  ninety  and  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds  of  your  English 
money." 

I  stifled  the  amazement  his  words  excited,  and 
said  coldly,  "  You  must  have  met  with  some  rich 
ships." 

"  We  did  well,"  h«  answered.  "  My  memory  is 
good "— ^he  counted  afresh  on  his  fingers — "  ten 
cases  in  all.  Fortune  is  a  strange  wench,  Mr. 
Rodney.  Who  would  think  of  finding  her  lodged 
on  an  iceberg  ?  Now  bring  those  others  up 
there  to  life,  and  you  make  us  five.  What  would 
follow,  think  you  ?  what  but  this  ?  " 

He  raised  his  beard  and  stroked  his  throat 
with  the  sharp  of  his  hand.  Then,  swallowing  a 
great  draught  of  brandy,  he  rose  and  stopped  to 
listen. 

"It  is  blowing  hard,"  said  he ;  "  the  harder 
the  better.  I  want  to  see  this  island  knocked 
into  bergs.  Every  sea  is  as  good  as  a  pickaxe. 
Hark !  there  are  those  crackling  noises  I  used 
to  hear  before  I  fell  into  a  stupor.  Wh«r«  do  you 
sleep?" 

I  told  him. 

"  My  berth  is  the  third/'  said  he.  M  I  with  to 
smoke,  and  will  fetch  my  pipe." 

He  took  the  lanthorn  and  went  aft,  acting  as  if 
he  had  left  that  berth  an  hour  ago,  and  I  under- 


IT*  Tm  Fine** 

stood  in  the  face  of  thii  ready  recurrence  of  his 
memory  how  impossible  it  would  be  ever  to  make 
him  believe  he  had  been  practically  lifeless  since 
the  year  1 753.  When  ht  relumed  he  had  on  a 
hairy  cap,  with  large  covers  for  the  ears,  and  a 
big  flap  behind  that  fell  to  below  his  collar,  and 
was  almost  as  long  as  his  hair.  He  wanted  but  a 
couple  of  muskets  and  an  umbrella  to  closely 
resemble  Robinson  Crusoe,  as  he  is  made  to 
figure  in  most  of  the  cuts  I  have  seen.  He  pro- 
duced a  pipe  of  the  Dutch  pattern,  with  a  bowl 
carved  into  a  death's  head,' and  great  enough  to 
hold  a  cake  of  tobacco.  The  skull  might  have 
been  a  child's  for  size,  and  though  it  was  dyed 
with  tobacco  juice  and  the  top  blackened,  with 
the  lire  coals  which  had  been  held  to  it,  it  was 
so  finely  carved  that  it  looked  very  ghastly  and 
terribly  real  in  his  hand  as  he  sat  puffing  at  it. 

He  eyed  me  steadfastly  whilst  he  smoked,  as  if 
critically  taking  stock  of  me,  and  presently  said, 
4  The  devil  hath  an  odd  way  of  ordering  matters. 
What  particular  merit  have  /  that  I  should  have 
been  the  one  hit  upon  by  you  to  thaw  ?  Had 
you  brought  any  one  of  the  others  to,  he  would 
have  advised  you  against  reviving  us,  and  so  I 
should  have  passed  out  of  my  frosty  sleep  into 
death  as  quietly,  ay,  and  as  painlessly,  as  that 
puff  of  smoke  melts  into  clear  air." 

'  Then   perhaps   you   do   not    think    you    are 
obliged  by  my  awakening  you  to  life?"  said  I. 

'Yes,  my  friend,  I  am  much  obliged,"  said  h< 
with  vivacity.     "  Any  fool  can  die.     To  live  i«. 
true  business  of  life.     Mark  what  voud*i  you 


or  A  GMAT  T 

make  me  know  tobacco  again,  you  enable  me  to 

eat  and  drink,  and  these  things  are  pleasures 
which  were  denied  me  in  that  cabin  there.  You 
recall  me  ta  the  enjoyment  of  my  gains,  nay,  of 
more — of  ray  own  and  the  gains  of  our  company. 
You  make  me,  as  you  make  yourself,  a  rich  man  ; 
the  world  opens  before  me  anew,  and  very 
brilliantly — to  be  sure,  I  am  obliged." 

"  The  world  is  certainly  before  you,  as  it  is 
before  me,"  said  I,  "  but  that's  all ;  we  hare  got 
to  get  there." 

He  flourished  his  pipe,  and  'twas  like  the  flight 
of  Death  through  the  gloomy  fire-tinctured  air. 

"  That  must  come.  We  are  two.  Yesterday 
you  were  one,  and  I  can  understand  your  despair. 
But  these  arms — stupor  has  not  wasted  so  much 
as  the  dark  line  of  a  finger-nail  of  muscle.  You 
too  are  no  girl.  Courage !  between  us  we  shall 
manage.  How  long  is  it  since  you  sailed  from 
England?" 

"  We  sailed  last  month  a  year  from  the  Thames 
for  Callao."  / 

"  And  what  is  the  news  ?  "  said  he,  taking  a 
pannikin  of  wine  from  the  oven  and  sipping  it. 
"  Last  year !  'Tis  twelve  years  since  I  was  in  Paris 
and  three  years  since  we  had  news  from  Europe." 

News  !  thought  I ;  to  tell  this  man  the  news,  as 
he  calls  it,  would  oblige  me  to  travel  over  fifty 
years  of  history. 

"  Why,  Mr.  Tassard,"  said  I,  "  there's  plenty  of 
things  happening,  you  know,  for  Europe  s  full  of 
kings  and  queens,  and  two  or  more  of  them  are 
nearly  always  at  loggerheads  ;  but  sailors — raer- 


i8o  THE  FmozKK  PIRATV. 

chantmen  like  myself — hear  little  of  what  goes 
on.  We  know  the  name  of  our  own  sovereign 
and  what  wages  sailors  are  getting ;  that's -about  it, 
sir.  In  fact,  at  this  moment  I  could  tell  you  more 
about  Chili  and  Peru  than  England  and  France." 

11  Is  there  war  between  our  nations  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Yes,"  said  I. 

"  Ha  1  "  he  cried,  "  I  doubt  if  this  time  you  will 
come  off  so  easily.  You  have  good  men  in 
Hawke  and  Anson ;  but  Jonquiere  and  St.  George, 
hey  ?  and  Macon,  Cellie,  Letenduer  !  " 

He  shook  his  head  knowingly,  and  an  air  of 
complacency,  that  would  Se  indescribable  but  for 
the  word  French,  overspread  his  face.  I  knew 
the  name  of  Jonquiere  as  an  admiral  who  had 
fought  us  in  1748  or  thereabouts  ;  of  the  others  I 
had  never  heard.  But  I  held  my  peace,  which  I 
suppose  he  put  down  to  good  manners,  for  he 
changed  the  subject  by  asking  if  I  was  married. 
I  answered,  No,  and  inquired  like  had  a  wife, 

"  A  wife !  "  cried  he  ;  "  what  should  a  man  of 
my  calling  do  with  a  wife  ?  No,  no  1  we  gather 
such  flowers  as  we  want  off  the  high  seas,  and 
wear  them  till  the  perfume  palls.  They  prove 
stubborn  though ;  our  graces  are  not  always 
relished.  Trentanove  reckoned  himself  the  most 
killing  among  us,  and  by  St  Barnabas  he  proved 
so,  for  three  ladies — passengers  of  beauty  and 
distinction — slew  themselves  for  his  sake.  Do 
you  understand  me  ?  They  preferred  the  knife  to 
his  addresses.  /,"  said  he,  tapping  his  breast 
and  grinning,  "  was  always  fortunate," 

He  looked  a  complete  satyr  as  be  tau>  spoke, 


Tra  TXSAOTILB.  181 

with  his  hairy  cap,  grey  beard,  long  nose,  little 
cunning  shining  eyes,  and  broken  tangs ;  and  a 
chill  of  disgust  came  upon  me.     But  I  had  already 
seen  enough  of   him  to  understand  that  he   was 
a  man  of  a  very  formidable  character,   and  that 
he  had  awakened  after  eight-and-forty  years  of 
insensibility  as  real  a  pirate  at  heart  as  ever  he 
had  been,  and  that  it  therefore  behoved  me  to 
deal  very  warily  with  him,  and  above  all  not  to  let 
him   suspect  my  thoughts.     Yet  he   seemed   a 
person  superior  to  the  calling  he  had  adopted. 
His   English  was  good,  and   his  articulation   in- 
dicated a  quality  of  breeding.     Whilst  he  smoked 
his  pipe  out  he  told  me  a  story  of  an  action  be- 
tween this  schooner  and  a  French  Indiaman. 
will   not  repeat  it  ;  it  was   mere  butchery,   with 
features  of  diabolic  cruelty  ;  but  what  affected  me 
more  violently  than  the  horrors  of  the  narrative 
was  his   cool  and  easy  recital  of  his  own  and  the 
deeds  of  his  companions.     You  saw  that  he  had 
no  more  conscience  in  him  than  the  death's  head 
he  puffed  at,  and  that  his  idea  was  there  was  no 
true  greatness  to  be  met  with  out  of  enormity. 
Well,  thought  I,  as  I   stepped  to  the  corner  for 
some  coal,  if  I  was  afraid  of  this  creature  when  he 
was  dead,  to  what  condition  of  mind  shall   I   be 
reduced  by  his  being  alive  ? 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  TREASURE. 

WHEN    his    pipe  was  out    he    rose  and   made 
several  strides  about  the  cook-room,  then   took 


i  St  Tn  Fioum 

the  Ian  thorn,  and  entering  the  cabin  stood  awhile 
surveying  the  place. 

"  So  this  would  have  been  my  coffin  but  for 
you,    Mr.    Rodney?"  said  he.     "  I  was   in  good 
company,  though,"   pointing    over   his    shoulder 
at  the  crucifix  with  his  thumb.     "  Lord,  how  the 
rogues  prayed  and  cursed  in  this  same  cabin  ! 
In  fine  weather,  and  when  all  was  well,  the  sharks 
in  our  wake  had  more  religion  than  they  ;  but  the 
instant  they  were  in  danger,  down  they  tumbled 
upon  their  quivering   knees,    and    if  heaven  was 
twice  as  big  as  it  is,  it  could  not  have  held  saints 
enough  for  those  varlets  to  petition." 
"  You  were  nearly  all  Spaniards?" 
"  Ay  ;  the  worst  class  of  men  a  ship  could  enter 
these  seas  with.     But  for  our  calling  they  are  the 
fittest  of  all  the  nations  in  the  world ;  better  even 
than  the  Portuguese,  and  with  truer  trade  instincts 
than    the    trained    mulatto — nimbler    artists    in 
roguery  than  ever  a  one  of  them.     I  despise  their 
superstition,  but  they  are  the  better  pirates  for  it. 
They  carry  it  as  a  man  might  a  feather  bed ;  it 
enables  them  to  fall  soft.     D'ye  take  me  ?  "     He 
gave  one  of  his  short  loud  laughs,  and  said,  "  I 
hope  this  slope  won't  increase.     The  angle's  stiff 
enough  as  it  is.     Twill  be  like  living  on  the  roof 
of  a  house.     I  have  a  mind  to  see  how  she  lies. 
What  d'ye  say,  Mr.  Rodney  ?  shall  I  venture  into 
the  open  ?  " 

"Why    not?"     said    I.        f You    can    move 
briskly.      You   have  as   much   life   as   ever   you 

"  Let's  go,  then, '   he  exclaimed,  and  climbing 


THE  TMAIOTKB.  i§S 

the  ladder  he  pushed  open  the  companion-door 

and  stepped  on  to  the  deck,  I  followed  with  but 
little  solicitude,  as  you  may  suppose,  as  to  what 
might  attend  his  exposure.  The  blast  of  the  gale 
though  it  was  broken  into  downwards  eddying 
darlings  by  the  rocks,  made  him  bawl  out  with 
the  sting  of  it,  and  for  some  moments  he  could 
think  of  nothing  but  the  cold,  stamping  the 
deck,  and  beating  his  hands. 

"  Ha !  "  cried  he,  grinning  to  the  smart  of  his 
cheeks,  "this  is  not  the  cook-room,  eh  ?  Great 
thunder,  you  will  not  have  it  that  this  ice  has 
been  drifting  north  ?  Why,  man,  'tis  icier  by 
twenty  degrees  than  when  we  were  first  locked 
up."  ' 

"  I  hope  not,"  said  I ;  "  and  I  think  not. 
Your  blood  doesn't  course  strong  yet,  and  you 
are  fresh  from  the  furnace.  Besides,  it  is  blow- 
ing a  bitter  cold  gale.  Look  at  that  sky  and 
listen  to  the  thunder  of  the  sea ! " 

The  commotion  was  indeed  terribly  uproarious. 
The  spume  as  before  was  blowing  in  clouds  of 
snow  over  the  ice,  and  fled  in  very  startling 
flashes  of  whiteness  under  the  livid  drapery  of  the 
sky.  The  wind  itself  sounded  like  the  prolonged 
echo  of  a  discharge  of  monster  ordnance,  and  it 
screeched  and  whistled  hideously  where  it  struck 
the  peaks  and  edges  of  the  cliffs  and  swept 
through  the  schooner's  masts.  The  rending 
noises  of  the  ice  in  all  directions  were  distinct  and 
fearful.  The  Frenchman  looked  about  him  with 
consternation,  and  to  my  surprise  crossed  him- 
self. 


i*4  THB  FKOKSK  PIXATB. 

"  May  the  blessed  Virgin  preserve  us ! "  he 
said.  "  Do  you  say  we  have  drifted  north  ?  If 
this  is  not  the  very  heart  of  the  south  pole  you 
shall  persuade  me  we  are  on  the  equator. ' 

"It  cannot  storm  too  terribly  for  us,  as  you 
just  now  said,"  I  replied.  "  I  want  this  island  to 
i(o  to  pieces." 

As  I  said  this  a  solid  pillar  of  ice  just  beyond 
the  brow  of  the  hill  on  the  starboard  side  was 
dislodged  or  blown  down  ;  it  fell  with  a  mighty 
crash,  and  filled  the  air  with  crystal  splinters. 
Tassard  started  back  with  a  faint  cry  of  "  Bon 
Dieu!" 

"  Judge  for  yourself  how  the  ship  lies,"  said  I ; 
"  this  is  freezing  work." 

He  went  aft  and  looked  over  the  stern,  then 
walked  to  the  larboard  rail  and  peered  over  the 
side. 

''Is  there  ice  beyond  that  opening  ?"  he  asked, 
pointing  over  the  taffrail. 

"No,"  I  answered;  "that  goes  to  the  sea. 
There  is  a  low  cliff  beyond.  Mark  that  cloud  of 
white ;  it  is  the  spray  hurled  athwart  the  mouth 
of  this  hollow." 

"Good,"  he  mumbled  with  his  teeth  chatter- 
ing. "  The  change  is  marvellous.  There  was 
ice  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  where  that  slope  ends. 
Tis  too  cold  to  converse  here." 

"  There  are  your  companions,"  said  I,  pointing 
to  the  two  bodies  lying  a  little  distance  before  the 
mainmast. 

He  marched  up  to  them,  and  exclaimed,  "  Yes, 
this  is  Trentanove  and  that  is  Barros.  Both  were 


Tin  TftBATOBB.  itj 

blind,  but  they  are  blinder  now.  Would  they 
thank  you  to  arouse  them  out  of  their  comfortable 
sleep  and  force  them  to  feel  as  I  do,  this  cold  to 
which  they  are  now  as  insensible  as  I  was  ?  By 
heaven,  for  my  part,  I  can  stand  it  no  longer ; ' 
and  with  that  ne  ran  briskly  to  the  hatch. 

1  followed  him  to  the  cook-room  and  he  crept  so 
close  to  the  furnace  that  I  thought  he  had  a 
mind  to  roast  himself.  No  doubt,  newly  come  to 
life  as  he  was,  the  cold  hurt  him  more  than 
me,  and  maybe  the  tide  of  those  animal  spirits 
which  had  in  his  former  existence  furnished  him 
with  a  brute  courage  had  not  yet  flowed  full  to 
his  mind ;  still  I  questioned  even  in  his  heydey  if 
there  had  ever  been  much  more  than  the  swash- 
buckler in  him,  which  opinion,  however,  could 
only  increase  the  anxiety  his  companionship  was 
like  to  cause  me  by  obliging  me  to  understand 
that  I  must  prepare  myself  for  treachery,  and  on 
no  account  whatever  to  suppose  for  a  moment 
that  he  was  capable  of  the  least  degree  of  grati- 
tude or  was  to  be  swerved  from  any  design  he 
might  form  by  considerations  of  my  claim  upon 
him  as  his  preserver. 

It  is  among  the  wonders  of  human  nature  that 
antagonisms  should  be  found  to  flourish  under 
such  conditions  of  hopelessness,  misery,  and 
anguish  as  make  those  who  languish  under  them 
the  most  pitiful  wretches  under  God's  eye.  But 
so  it  has  been,  so  it  is,  so  it  will  ever  be.  Two 
men  in  an  open  boat  at  sea,  their  lips  frothing 
with  thirst,  their  eyes  burning  with  famine,  shall 
fall  upon  each  other  and  fight  to  the  death.  Two 


1 86  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

men  on  an  island,  two  miserable  castaways  whose 
dismal  end  can  only  be  a  matter  of  a  week  or  two, 
eye  each  other  morosely,  give  each  other  in- 
jurious words,  break  away  and  sullenly  live, 
each  man  by  himself,  on  opposite  sides  of  their 
desert  prison.  Beasts  do  not  act  thus,  nor  birds, 
nor  reptiles — only  man.  What  waj  in  the 
Frenchman  Tassard's  mind  I  do  not  know ; 
in  mine  was  fear,  dislike,  profound  distrust,  a 
great  uneasiness,  albeit  we  were  alone,  we  were 
brothers  in  affliction  and  distress,  as  completely 
sundered  from  the  world  to  which  we  belonged 
as  if  we  lay  stranded  in  the  icy  moon,  speaking 
in  the  same  tongue  and  believing  in  the  same 
God  I 

The  heat  comforted  him  presently,  and  he  put 
a  lump  of  wine  into  the  overt  to  melt,  and  this 
comforted  him  also. 

"  I  can  converse  now,"  said  he.  "  Perhaps 
after  all  the  danger  lies  more  in  the  imagination 
than  in  the  fact.  But  it  is  a  hideous  naked  scene, 
and  needs  no  such  colouring  as  the  roaring  of 
wind,  the  rushing  of  seas,  and  the  crashing  falls 
of  masses  of  ice  to  render  it  frightful." 

"You  tell  me,"  said  I,  "that  when  you  fell 
asleep  " — 1  would  sometimes  express  his  frozen 
state  thus — "  there  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  ice 
beyond  the  schooner's  stern." 

"  At  least  a  quarter  of  a  mile,"  he  answered. 
11  Day  after  day  it  wo^Ki  be  built  up  till  it  came  to 
a  face  of  that  extent." 

I  thought  to  myself  if  it  has  takea  forty-eiftot 
/ears  of  the  wear  and  tear  of  stem  aad  swge  t» 


THB  TRMASUKB.  187 

extinguish  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  how  long  a  time 
must  elapse  before  this  island  splits  up?  But 
then  I  reflected  that  during  the  greater  part  of 
those  years  this  seat  of  ice  had  been  stuck  very 
low  south  where  the  cold  was  so  extreme  as  to 
make  it  defy  dissolution ;  that  since  then,  it  was 
come  away  from  the  main  and  stealing  north,  so 
that  what  might  have  taken  thirty  years  to  accom- 
plish in  seventy  degrees  of  south  latitude,  might 
be  performed  in  a  day  on  the  parallel  of  sixty 
degrees  in  the  summer  season  in  these  seas. 

Tassard  continued  speaking  with  the  pannikin 
KJ  his  hand,  and  his  eyes  shut  as  if  to  get  the 
picture  of  the  schooner's  position  fair  before  his 
mind's  vision  :  "  There  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
ice  beyond  the  ship :  I  have  it  very  plain  in  my 
sight :  it  was  a  great  muddle  of  hillocks,  for  the 
ice  pressed  thick  and  hard,  and  raised  us  and 
vomited  up  peaks  and  rocks  to  the  squeeze. 
Suppose  I  have  been  asleep  a  week?"  Here  he 
opened  his  eyes  and  gazed  at  me, 

"Well?"  said  I. 

"  I  say,"  he  continued  in  the  tone  of  one  easily 
excited  into  passion,  *'  a  week.  It  will  not  have 
been  more.  It  is  impossible.  Never  mind  about 
your  eighteen  hundred  and  one,"  showing  his 
fangs  in  a  sarcastic  grin  ;  "  a  week  is  long-enough, 
friend.  Then  this  is  what  I  mean  to  say  :  that 
the  breaking  away  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  ice  in 
a  week  is  fine  work,  full  of  grand  promise :  the 
next  wrench — which  might  come  now  as  I  speak, 
or  to-morrow,  or  in  a  week — the  next  wrench  may 
bring  away  the  rock  on  which  we  are  lodged, 


iS8  THB  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

the  rest  is  a  matter  of  patience — which  we  can 
afford,  hey  ?  for  we  are  but  two — there  is  plenty 
of  meat  and  liquor  and  the  reward  afterwards  is  a 
princely  independence,  Mr.  Paul  Rodney." 

I  was  struck  with  the  notion  of  the  bed  of  ice 
on  which  the  schooner  lay  going  afloat,  and  said, 
"  Are  sea  and  wind  to  be  helped,  think  you  ?  If 
the  block  on  which  we  lie  could  be  detached,  it 
might  beat  a  bit  against  its  parent  stock,  but 
would  not  unite  again.  The  schooner's  canvas 
might  be  made  to  help  it  along — though  suppose 
it  capsized !  " 

"  We  must  consider,"  said  he  ;  "  there  is  no 
need  to  hurry.  When  the  wind  falls  we  will  survey 
the  ice." 

He  warmed  himself  afresh,  and  after  remaining 
silent  with  the  air  of  one  turning  many  thoughts 
over  in  his  mind,  he  suddenly  cried,  "  D'ye  know 
I  have  a  mind  to  view  the  plate  and  money  below. 
What  say  you  ?  " 

His  little  eyes  seemed  to  sparkle  with  suspicion 
as  he  directed  them  at  me.  I  was  confident  he 
suspected  I  had  lied  in  saying  I  knew  nothing  of 
this  treasure  and  that  he  wanted  to  see  if  I  had 
meddled  with  those  chests.  One  of  the  penalties 
attached  to  a  man  being  forced  to  keep  the  com- 
pany of  liars  is,  he  himself  is  never  believed  by 
them.  I  answered  instantly,  "  Certainly  ;  I  should 
like  to  see  this  wonderful  booty.  It  is  right  that 
we  should  find  out  at  once  if  it  is  there ;  for  sup- 
posing it  vanished  we  should  be  no  better  than 
madmen  to  sit  talking  here  of  the  fine  lives  we 
shall  live  if  ever  we  get  home." 


Tm  Tuusvuk  ito. 

He  picked  up  the  lanthorn  and  said,  "  I  must 
go  to  your  cabin  :  it  was  the  captain's.  The  keys 
of  the  chests  should  be  in  one  of  his  boxes." 

He  marched  off,  and  was  so  long  gone  that  I 
was  almost  of  belief  he  had  tumbled  down  in  a  fit. 
However,  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  act  a  very 
wary  part ;  and  particularly  never  to  let  him  think 
I  distrusted  him,  and  so  I  would  not  go  to  see 
what  he  was  about.     But  what  I  did  was  this: 
the  arms-room  was  next  door :  I  lighted  a  candle, 
entered  it,  and  swiftly  armed  myself  with  a  sort  of 
dagger,  a  kind  of  boarding- knife,  a  very  murderous 
little   two-edged   sword,   the  blade  about   seven 
inches  long,  and  the  haft  of  brass.     There  were 
some  fifty  of  these  weapons,  and  I  took  the  first 
that  came  to  my  hand  and  dropped  it  into  the  deep 
side  pocket  of  my  coat  and  returned  to  the  cook- 
room.     It  was   not  that   I  was   afraid    of  going 
unarmed  with  this  man  into  the  hold :  there  was 
no  more  danger  to  me  there  than  here :  should  he 
ever  design  to  despatch  me,  one  place  was  the 
same  as  another,  for  the  dead  above  could  not 
testify  :  there  were  no  witnesses  in  this  white  and 
desolate   kingdom.     What    resolved    me   to    go 
armed  was  the  fear  that  should  the  treasure  be 
missing— and  who  was  to  swear  that  the  schooner 
had  never  been  visited    once  in  eight-and-forty 
years  ?— the   Frenchman,  who  was  persuaded  his 
stupor  had  not  lasted  above  a  week,  and  who  was 
doubtless  satisfied  the  chests  were  in   the  hold 
down   to   the  period   when  he  lost  recollection 
would  suspect  me  of  foul  play,  and  in  the  barbaroui 
rage  of  a  pirate  fill  upon  and  endeavour  to  kill  •*. 


190  THB  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

Thus  you  will  see  that  I  had  no  very  high  opinion  of 

the  morals  and  character  of  the  man  I  had  given  life 
to  ;  and  indeed,  after  1  had  armed  myself  and  was 
seated  again  before  the  furnace,  I  felt  extremely 
melancholy,  and  underwent  the  severest  dejection 
of  spirits  that  had  yet  visited  me,  fearing  that  my 
humanity  had  achieved  nothing  more  than  to 
bring  me  into  the  society  of  a  devil,  who  would 
prove  a  fixed  source  of  anxiety  and  misery  to  me. 
Was  it  conceivable  that  the  others  should  be 
worse  than,  or  even  as  bad  as,  this  creature  ?  His 
hair  showed  him  hoary  in  vice.  The  Italian  was 
a  handsome  man,  and  let  him  have  been  as  pro- 
fligate as  he  would,  as  cruel  and  fierce  a  pirate  as 
Tassard  had  painted  him,  he  would  at  all  events 
have  proved  a  sightly  companion,  and  harmless 
as  being  blind,  though  to-  be  sure  for  that  reason 
of  no  use  to  me.  Yet  though  his  blindness  would 
have  made  him  a  burden,  I  had  rather  have  thawed 
him  into  life  than  the  Frenchman. 

The  mere  thought  of  feeling  under  an  obligation 
toarm  myself  filled  me  with  such  vindictive  passions 
that  I  protest  as  I  sat  alone  waiting  for  him  I  felt 
as  if  it  were  a  duty  I  owed  myself  to  return  him  tc 
the  condition  in  which  I  found  him,  which  was  tc 
be  easily  contrived  by  my  binding  him  in  his 
sleep  and  dragging  him  to  the  deck  and  leaving 
him  to  stupefy  alongside  the  body  of  the  giant 
Joam  Barros.  "  Peace  !  "  cried  I  to  myself  with 
a  shiver ;  "  villain  that  thou  art  to  harbour  such 
thoughts  1  Thou  art  a  hundred-fold  worse  than 
the  wretch  against  whom  Satan  is  setting  thee 
plotting  to  think  thus  vilely."  I  gulped  down 


THE  TREASURE.  191 

this  bolus  of  conscience  with  the  help  of  a 
draught  of  wine,  and  it  did  me  good.  Lord,  how 
dangerous  is  loneliness  to  a  man  !  Depend  upon 
it,  your  seeker  after  solitude  is  only  hunting  for 
the  road  that  leads  to  Bedlam. 

It  might  be  that  he  was  long  because  of  having 
to  seek  for  the  keys  ;  but  my  own  conviction  was 
that  he  found  the  keys  easily  and  stayed  to  rum- 
mage the  boxes  for  such  jewels  and  articles  of 
value  as  he  might  there  find.  I  think  he  was 
gone  near  half  an  hour ;  he  then  returned  to  the 
cook-house,  saying  briefly,  "  I  have  the  keys,"  and 
jingling  them,  and  after  warming  himself,  said, 
"  Let  us  go." 

I  was  moving  towards  the  forecastle. 

"  Not  that  way  for  the  run,"  cried  he. 

"  Is  there  a  hatch  aft  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Certainly  ;  in  the  lazarette." 

"  I  wish  I  had  known  that,"  said  I ;  "  I  should 
have  been  spared  a  stifling  scramble  over  the 
casks  and  raffle  forwards." 

He  led  the  way,  and  coming  to  the  trap  hatch 
that  conducted  to  the  lazarette,  he  pulled  it  open 
and  we  descended.  He  held  the  lanthorn  and  threw 
the  light  around  him  and  said,  "Ay,  there  are  plenty 
of  stores  here.  We  reckoned  upon  provisions  for 
twelve  months,  and  we  were  seventy  of  a  crew." 

A  strange  figure  he  looked,  just  touched  by  the 
yellow  candle-light,  and  standing  out  upon  the 
blackness  like  some  vision  of  a  distempered 
fancy,  in  his  hair-cap  and  flaps,  and  with  his  long 
nose  and  beard  and  little  eyes  shining  as  he  rolled 
them  here  and  there.  We  made  our  way  over  the 


io*  Tn  Fftoutv  PIEATE. 

casks,  bales,  and  the  like,  till  we  were  rigfit  aft, 
and  here  there  was  a  small  clear  space  of  deck 
in  which  lay  a  hatch.  This  he  lifted  by  its  ring, 
and  down  through  the  aperture  did  he  drop,  I 
following.  The  lazarette  deck  came  so  low  that 
we  had  to  squat  when  still  or  move  upon  our 
knees.  At  the  foremost  end  of  this  division  ol 
the  ship,  so  far  as  it  was  possible  for  my  eyes 
to  pierce  the  darkness — for  it  seems  that  this  run 
went  clear  to  the  forehold  bulkhead,  that  is  to 
say,  under  the  powder-room,  to  where  the  forehold 
began — were  stowed  the  spare  sails,  ropes  for 
gear,  and  a  great  variety  of  furniture  for  the 
equipment  of  a  ship's  yards  and  masts.  But  im- 
mediately under  the  hatch  stood  several  small 
chests  and  cases,  painted  black,  stowed  side  by 
«de  so  that  they  could  not  shift. 

Tassard  ran  his  eye  over  them,  counting. 
"Right!"  cried  he;  "hold  the  lanthorn,  Mr. 
Rodney.** 

I  took  the  light  from  him,  and,  pulling  the  keys 
from  his  pocket,  he  fell  to  trying  them  at  the  lock 
of  the  first  chest.  One  fitted  ;  the  bolt  shot  with 
a  hard  click,  like  cocking  a  trigger,  and  he  raised 
the  lid.  The  chest  was  full  of  silver  money.  I 
picked  up  a  couple  of  the  coins,  and,  bringing 
them  to  tne  candle,  perceived  them  to  be  Spanish 
pieces  of  eight.  The  money  was  tarnished,  yet 
it  reflected  a  sort  of  dull  metallic  light.  The 
Frenchman  grasped  a  handful  and  dropped  them, 
as  though,  like  a  child,  he  loved  to  hear  the  chink 
the  pieces  made  as  they  fell. 

"  There' »  a  brave  pocketful  there,"  Mid  1. 


TBB  TUASUUL 

*Tut!"  cried  he,  scornfully.  "Tjs  *  mere 
show  of  money ;  resolve  it  into  gold  and  it  becomes 
a  lean  bit  of  plunder.  This  we  got  from  the 
Conquistador;  it  was  all  she  had  in  this  way; 
destined  for  some  monastery,  I  recollect;  but 
disappointment  is  good  for  holv  fathers  ;  it  makes 
them  more  earnest  in  their  devotions  and  keeps 
their  paunches  from  swelling." 

He  let  fall  the  lid  of  the  chest,  which  locked 
itself,  and  then,  after  a  short  trial  of  the  keys, 
opened  the  one  beside  it.  This  was  stored  to  the 
top  with  what  I  took  to  be  pigs  of  lead,  and  when 
he  pulled  out  one  and  bade  me  feel  the  weight  of 
it  I  still  thought  it  was  lead,  until  he  told  me  it 
was  virgin  silver. 

"  This  was  good  booty !  *  cried  he,  taking  the 
lanthorn  and  swinging  it  over  the  blocks  of  metal. 
"  It  would  have  been  missed  but  for  me.  Our 
men  had  found  it  in  the  hold  of  the  buccaneer  in  a 
chest  half  as  deep  again  as  this,  and  thought  it 
to  be  a  case  of  marmalade,  for  there  were  two 
layers  of  boxes  of  marmalade  stowed  on  top.  I 
routed  them  out  and  found  those  pretty  bricks  of 
ore  snug  beneath.  I  believe  Mendoza  made  the 
value  of  the  two  chests — silver  though  it  be — to  be 
equal  to  six  thousand  pounds  of  your  money." 

The  next  chest  he  opened  was  filled  with 
jewellery  of  various  kinds,  the  fruits,  I  daresay,  of 
a  dozen  pillages,  for  not  only  had  this  pirate 
robbed  honest  traders  but  a  picaroon  as  well 
that  had  also  plundered  in  her  turn  another  of 
her  own  kidney;  so  that,  as  I  say,  this  chest 
of  jewellery  might  represent  the  property  of  th* 


194  THE  FROZEN  PIIHTK. 

passengers  of  as  many  as  a  dozen  vessels.     It 

was  as  if  the  contents  of  the  shop  of  a  jeweller 
who  was  at  once  a  goldsmith  and  a  silversmith 
had  been  emptied  into  this  chest ;  you  could 
scarce  name  an  ornament  that  was  not  here — 
watches,  snuff-boxes,  buckles,  bracelets,  pounce- 
boxes,  vinaigrettes,  earrings,  crucifixes,  stars  for 
the  hair,  necklaces — but  the  list  grows  tiresome ; 
in  silver  and  gold,  but  chiefly  in  gold  ;  all  shot 
together  and  lying  scramble  fashion,  as  if  they  had 
been  potatoes. 

'This  is  a  fine  sight,"  said  Tassard,  poring 
upon  the  sparkling  mass  with  falcon  nose  and 
ravenous  eyes.  Here  is  a  dainty  little  watch. 
Fifty  guineas  would  not  purchase  it  in  London  or 
Paris.  Where  is  the  white  breast  upon  which  that 
cross  there  once  glittered  ?  Ha !  the  perfume  has 
faded,"  bringing  a  vinaigrette  to  his  hawk's  bill ; 
"  the  soul  is  gone  ;  the  body  is  the  Immortal  part 
in  this  case.  Now,  my  friend,  talk  to  me  of  the 
patient  drudgery  of  honourable  life  after  this,"  col- 
lecting the  chests,  so  to  say,  to  my  view  with  a 
sweep  of  the  hand  ;  "  men  will  break  their  hearts 
for  a  hundred  livres  ashore  and  be  hanged  for 
the  price  of  a  pinchbeck  dial.  When  I  was  in 
London  I  saw  five  men  carted  to  the  gallows; 
one  had  forged,  one  was  a  highwayman — I 
forget  the  others'  businesses ;  but  I  recollect 
on  inquiring  the  value  of  their  baggings — that 
for  which  they  were  hanged — it  did  not  amount  to 
four  guineas  a  man.  Look  at  this  !  "  He  swept 
his  great  hand  again  over  the  chests.  "  Is  not 
here  something  worth  going  to  the  scaffold  Iff  ?" 


THB  TREASURE,  195 

His  bosom  swelled,  his  eyes  sparkled,  and  he 
made  as  if  to  strike  a  heroic  posture,  but  this  he 
could  not  contrive  on  his  hams. 

I  was  thunder-struck,  as  you  will  suppose,  by 
the  sight  of  all  this  treasure,  and  looked  and  stared 
like  a  fool,  as  if  I  was  in  a  dream.  I  had  never 
seen  so  many  fine  things  before,  and  indulged  in 
the  most  extravagant  fancies  of  their  worth. 
Here  and  there  in  the  glittering  huddle  my  eye 
lighted  on  an  object  that  was  a  hundred,  perhaps 
two  hundred,  years  old :  a  cup  very  choicely 
wrought,  that  may  have  been  in  a  family  for 
several  generations  ;  a  watch  of  a  curious  figure, 
and  the  like.  There  might  have  been  the  pickings 
of  the  cabins,  trunks,  and  portmanteaux  of  a 
hundred  opulent  men  and  women  in  this  chest, 
and,  so  far  as  I  could  judge  from  what  lay  atop, 
the  people  plundered  represented  several  nation- 
alities. 

But  there  were  other  chests  and  cases  to  explore 
—ten  in  all :  two  of  these  were  filled  with  silver 
money,  a  third  with  plate,  a  fourth  with  English, 
French,  Spanish,  and  Portugal  coins  in  gold ;  but 
the  one  over  which  Tassard  hung  longest  in  a 
transport  that  held  him  dumb,  was  the  smallest  of 
all,  and  this  was  packed  with  gold  in  bars.  The 
stuff  had  the  appearance  of  mouldy  yellow  soap, 
and  having  no  sparkle  nor  variety  did  not  affect 
me  as  the  jewellery  had,  though  in  value  this  chest 
came  near  to  being  worth  as  much  as  all  the 
others  put  together.  The  fixed  transported  pos- 
ture of  the  pirate,  his  little  shining  eyes  intent 
upon  the  bars,  his  form  in  the  candle-light  looking 


196  THE  FROZEN  PIIATB. 

like  a  sketch  of  a  strange,  wildly-apparelled  man 
done  in  phosphorus,  coupled  with  the  loom  of  the 
black  chests,  the  sense  of  our  desolation,  the  folly 
of  our  enjoyment  of  the  sight  of  the  treasure  in 
the  face  of  our  pitiable  and  dismal  plight,  the 
melancholy  storming  of  the  wind,  moaning  like 
the  rumble  of  thunder  heard  in  a  vault,  and  above 
all  the  feeling  of  unreality  inspired  by  the  thought 
of  my  companion  having  lain  for  eight-and-forty 
years  as  good  as  dead,  combined  to  render  the 
scene  so  startlingly  impressive  that  it  remains  at 
this  hour  painted  as  vividly  upon  the  eye  of 
memory  as  if  I  had  come  from  it  five  minutes 
ago. 

"  So  I"  cried  the  Frenchman  suddenly,  slamming 
the  lid  <i  the  chest.  "  Tis  all  here  I  Now  then 
to  the  business  of  considering  how  to  come  off 
with  it." 

He  thrust  the  keys  in  his .  pocket,  and  we 
returned  to  the  cook-room. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

WB   TALK   OVBR   OUR   SITUATION. 

THAT  night,  as  afterwards,  Tassard  occupied  the 
berth  that  he  was  used  to  sleep  in  before  he  was 
frozen.  Although  I  had  not  then  the  least  fear 
that  he  would  attempt  any  malignant  tricks  with 
me  whilst  we  remained  in  this  posture,  the  feeling 
that  he  lay  in  the  berth  next  but  one  to  mine  made 
me  uneasy  in  spite  of  my  reasoning ;  and  I  WAI 
so  nervous  as  to  silently  shoot  a  great  iron  boh, 


Wl  TALK  07**  OUK  SlTUAVKM.  Iff 

so  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  enter 

without  beating  the  door  in. 

In  sober  truth,  the  sight  of  the  treasure  had  put 
a  sort  of  fever  into  my  imagination,  of  the  heat 
and  effects  of  which  I  was  not  completely  sensible 
until  I  was  alone  in  my  cabin  and  swinging  in  the 
darkness.  That  the  value  of  what  I  had  seen 
came  to  ninety  or  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  of 
our  money  I  could  not  doubt ;  and  I  will  not  deny 
that  my  fancy  was  greatly  excited  by  thinking  of 
it.  But  there  was  something  else.  Suppose  we 
should  have  the  happiness  to  escape  with  this 
treasure,  then  I  was  perfectly  certain  the  French- 
man would  come  between  me  and  my  share  of  it. 
This  apprehension  threading  my  heated  thoughts 
of  the  gold  and  silver  kept  me  restless  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  night,  and  I  also  held  my 
brains  on  the  stretch  with  devices  for  saving  our- 
selves and  the  treasure ;  yet  I  could  not  satisfy 
my  mind  that  anything  was  to  be  done  unless 
Nature  herself  assisted  us  in  freeing  the  schooner. 

However,  as  it  happened,  the  gale  roared  for  a 
whole  week,  and  th«  cold  was  so  frightful  and  the 
air  so  charged  with  spray  and  hail  that  we  were 
forced  to  lie  close  below  with  the  hatches  on  for 
our  lives.  It  was  true  Cape  Horn  weather,  with 
seas  as  high  as  cliffs,  and  a  westering  tendency  in 
the  wind  that  flung  sheets  of  water  through  the 
ravine,  which  must  have  quickly  filled  the  hollow 
and  built  us  up  in  ice  to  the  height  of  the  rails  but 
for  the  strong  slope  down  which  the  water  rushed 
as  fast  as  it  was  hurled. 

I  never  needed  to  peep  an  inch  beyond  the 


is$  FROZEN  PJR/ 

companion- way  to  view  the  sky;  nor  fw  the 
matter  of  that  was  there  ever  any  occasion  to 
leave  the  cabin  to  guess  at  the  weather,  for  the 
perpetual  thunder  of  it  echoed  strong  in  every 
part  of  the  vessel  below,  and  the  whole  fabric  was 
constantly  shivering  to  the  blows  of  the  falls  of 
water  on  her  decks. 

At  first  the  Frenchman  and  I  would  sit  in  the 
greatest  fear  imaginable,  constantly  expecting 
some  mighty  disaster,  such  as  the  rending  of  the 
ice  under  our  keei  and  our  being  swallowed  up,  or 
the  coming  together  of  the  slopes  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  crush  the  ship,  or  the  fall  upon  her 
of  ice  weighty  enough  to  beat  her  flat ;  though 
perhaps  this  we  least  feared,  for  unless  the  storm 
changed  the  whole  face  of  the  cliffs,  there  was  no 
ice  in  our  neighbourhood  to  serve  us  in  that  way. 
But  as  the  time  slipped  by  and  nothing  worse 
happened  than  one  sharp  movement  only  in  the 
vessel,  following  the  heels  of  a  great  noise  like  a 
cannon  discharged  just  outside ;  though  this 
movement  scared  us  nearly  out  of  our  senses, 
and  held  us  in  a  manner  dumbfounded  for  the 
rest  of  the  day ;  I  say,  the  time  passing  and 
nothing  more  terrifying  than  what  I  have  related 
happening,  we  took  heart  and  waited  with  some 
courage  and  patience  for  the  gale  to  break,  never 
doubting  that  we  should  find  a  wonderful  change 
when  we  surveyed  the  scene  from  the  heights. 

We  lived  well,  sparing  ourselves  in  nothing  that 
the  vessel  contained,  the  abundance  rendering 
•tint  idle ;  the  Frenchman  cooked,  for  he  was  a 
better  hand  than  I  at  that  work,  and  provided 


WB  TALK  OVER  OUR  SITUATION.     199 

several  relishable  sea-pies,  cakes,  and  broths.  As 
for  liquor,  there  was  enough  on  board  to  drown 
the  pair  of  us  twenty  times  over :  wines  of  France, 
Spain,  Portugal,  very  choice  fine  brandy,  rum  in 
plenty,  such  variety  indeed  as  enabled  us  to  brew 
a  different  kind  of  punch  every  day  in  the  seven, 
But  we  were  much  more  careful  with  the  coal,  and 
spared  it  to  the  utmost  by  burning  the  hammocks, 
bedding,  and  chests  that  lay  in  the  forecastle  ; 
that  is  to  say,  we  burnt  these  things  by  degrees, 
the  stock  being  excessive,  and  by  judiciously 
mixing  them  with  coal  and  wood,  they  made 
good  warming  fires,  and  as  tinder  lasted  long 

too. 

We  occupied  one  morning  in  thoroughly  over- 
hauling the  forecastle  for  such  articles  of  value  as 
the  sailors  had  dropped  or  forgotten  in  their 
flight ;  but  found  much  less  than  I  had  expected 
from  the  sight  of  the  money  and  other  things  on 
the  deck.  There  was  little  in  this  way  to  be  found 
in  the  cabins  :  I  mean  in  the  captain's  cabin  which 
I  used,  and  the  one  next  it  that  had  been  the 
mate's,  for  of  course  I  did  not  search  Mr. 
Tassard's  berth.  But  though  it  was  quite  likely 
that  the  seamen  had  plundered  these  cabins  before 
they  left  the  ship,  I  was  also  sure  that  the  French- 
man had  made  a  clean  sweep  of  what  they  had 
overlooked  when  he  pretended  to  search  for  the 
keys  of  the  treasure-chests ;  and  this  suspicion  I 
seemed  to  find  confirmed  by  the  appearance  of 
the  captain's  boxes.  One  of  these  ho-  a  mod 

books,  papers,  a  telescope,  some  nautical   n 
ments,  and  the  like,      I  looked  at  the  books  and 


mt  TUB  FROZEN 

the  papers,  in  the  hope  of  finding  something  to 
read ;  out  they  were  written  and  printed  in  the 
Spanish  tongue,  and  might  have  been  Hebrew  for 
all  the  good  they  were  to  me. 

Our  life  was  extraordinarily  dismal  and  melan- 
choly, how  much  so  I  am  unable  to  express.  It 
was  just  the  same  as  living  in  a  dungeon.  There 
was  no  crevice  for  the  daylight  to  shine  through, 
and  had  there  been  we  must  have  closed  it  to  keep 
the  cold  out.  Nothing  could  be  imagined  more 
gloomy  to  the  spirits  than  the  perpetual  night  of 
the  schooner's  interior.  The  furnace,  it  is  true, 
would,  when  it  flamed  heartily,  throw  a  brightness 
about  it ;  but  often  it  sank  into  redness  that  did 
but  empurple  the  gloom.  We  burned  but  one 
candle  at  a  time,  and  its  light  was  very  small,  so 
that  our  time  was  spent  chiefly  in  a  sullen  twilight. 
Added  to  all  this  was  my  dislike  of  my  companion. 
He  would  half  fuddle  himself  with  liquor,  and  in 
that  condition  hiccup  out  twenty  kinds  of  villainous 
-  arns  of  piracy,  murder,  and  bloodshed,  boasting 
>f  the  number  of  persons  he  had  despatched,  of 
lis  system  of  torturing  prisoners  to  make  them 
(  onfess  what  they  had  concealed  and  where.  He 
would  drivel  about  his  amours,  of  the  style  in 
which  he  lived  when  ashore,  and  the  like;  but 
whether  reticence  had  grown  into  a  habit  too 
strong  even  for  drink  to  break  down,  he  never 
once  gave  me  so  much  as  a  hint  touching  his 
youth  and  early  life.  He  was  completely  a 
Frenchman  in  nis  vanity,  and  you  would  have 
thought  him  entirely  odious  and  detestable  for 
this  excessive  quality  in  him  alone.  Methinks  t 


Wl  TALK  OVBB  OC1 

see  him  now,  sitting  before  me,  with  one  half  el 
Slim  reflecting  the  Tight  of  the  furnace,  hit  little 
eyes  twinkling  with  a  cruel  merriment  of  wine, 
telling  me  a  lying  story  of  the  adoration  of  a  noble, 
queenly-looking  captive  for  his  person — some 
lovely  Spanish  court  lady  whom,  with  others,  they 
had  taken  out  of  a  small  frigate  bound  to  old 
Spain.  To  test  her  sincerity  he  offered  to  procure 
her  liberty  at  the  first  opportunity  that  offered ; 
but  she  wept,  raved,  tore  her  hair.  No ;  without 
her  Jules  life  would  be  unendurable ;  her  husband, 
her  country,  her  king,  nay,  even  th«  allurements 
and  sparkle  of  the  court,  had  grown  disgusting ; 
and  so  on,  and  so  on.  And  I  think  a  monkev 
would  have  burst  into  laughter  to  see  the  bald- 
headed  old  satyr  beat  his  bosom,  flourish  his 
arms,  ogle,  languish,  and  simper,  all  with  a  cut- 
throat expression,  too,  soften  his  voice,  and  act  in 
short  as  if  he  was  not  telling  me  as  big  a  lie  as  was 
ever  related  on  shipboard. 

It  naturally  rendered  me  very  melancholy  to 
reflect  that  I  had  restored  this  old  villain  to  life, 
and  I  protest  it  was  a  continuous  shock  to  such 
religious  feelings  as  I  had  managed  to  preserve  to 
reflect  that  what  had  been  as  good  as  nearly  half 
a  century  of  death  had  done  nothing  for  this 
elderly  rogue's  morals.  It  entered  my  head  once 
to  bebeve  that  if  I  could  succeed  in  getting  him  to 
believe  he  had  lain  frozen  for  eight-and-forty  years, 
he  might  be  seized  with  a  fright  (for  he  was  a 
white-livered  creature),  and  in  some  directions 
mend,  and  so  come  to  a  sense  of  the  service  I  had 
done  him,  oi  which  be  appeared  wholly  k 


aos  THE  FROZEH  PIRATE. 

and  qualify  me  to  rid  my  mind  of  the  fears  which 
I  entertained  concerning  our  association,  should 
we  manage  to  escape  with  the  treasure.  I  said  to 
him  bluntly — not  apropos  (to  use  his  own  lingo)  of 
anything  we  were  talking  about, — 

"  'Tis  odd,  Mr.  Tassard,  you  should  doubt  my 
assurance  that  this  is  the  year  eighteen  hundred 
and  one." 

He  stared,  grinned,  and  said,  "  Do  you  think 
so?" 

'  Well,"  said  J,  "  perhaps  it  is  not  so  odd  after 
all ;  but  you  should  suffer  me  to  have, as  good  an 
idea  of  the  passage  of  time  as  yourself.  You 
cannot  tell  me  how  long  your  stupor  lasted." 

"Two  days  if  you  like  !  "  he  interrupted  vehe- 
mently. "  Why  more  ?  Why  longer  than  a  day  ? 
How  do  you  know  that  I  had  sunk  into  the  con- 
dition in  which  you  found  me  longer  than  an  hour 
or  two  when  you  landed  ?  How  do  you  know,  hey  ? 
How  do  you  know  ?  "  and  he  snapped  his  fingers. 

"  I  know  by  the  date  you  name  and  by  the 
year  that  this  is,"  said  I  defiantly. 

He  uttered  a  coarse  French  expression  and 
added,  "  You  want  to  prove  that  I  have  been  in- 
sensible for  forty-eight  years." 

"  It  is  the  fact,"  said  I. 

He  looked  so  wild  and  fierce  that  I  drew  my- 
self erect  ready  for  him  if  he  should  fall  upon 
Then,  slowl)  his   head   whilst  ti. 

in  his  face  softened  out,  he  said,  "  \\ \ 
France  now  ?  " 

I    said,    "  There    b    no    king ;    he    was    be- 


Wl  TALK  OVKR  OC»    SlTTJATK>»  tOJ 


"  What  was  his  name  ?  "  said  he. 

*'  Louis  the  Sixteenth,"  I  answered. 

*'  Ha  1  "  cried  he,  with  an  arch  sneer  ;  *  Louis 
the  Sixteenth,  hey  ?  Are  you  sure  it  wasn't  Louts 
the  Seventeenth  r  M 

"  He  is  dead  too," 

"  This  is  news,  Mr.  Rodney."  said  he  scorn- 
fully. 

"Whilst  you  have  been  here,"  said  I,  "many 
mighty  changes  have  happened,  France  has 
produced  as  great  a  general  and  as  dangerous  a 
villain  as  the  world  ever  beheld  ;  his  name  is 
Buonaparte." 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders  with  an  air  of  mock- 
ing pity. 

"  Who  is  your  king  ?  "  he  asked. 

"George  the  Third,"  said  I;  "God  bless 
him  !  " 

"  So—  George  and  Louis  —  Louis  and  George. 
I  see  how  it  is.  Stick  to  your  dates,  sir.  But, 
my  friend,  never  set  up  as  a  schoolmaster." 

This  sally  seemed  to  delight  him,  and  he  burst 
into  a  loud  laugh. 

14  Eighteen  hundred  and  one!  "he  cried.  "A 
man  I  knew  once  lost  ten  thousand  livres  at  a 
coup.  What  do  you  think  happened  ?  They 
settled  in  him  here;"  he  patted  his  belly:  "he 
went  about  bragging  to  everybody  that  he  was 
made  of  money,  and  was  nicknamed  the  walking 
bourse.  One  day  he  asked  a  friend  to  dine  witlt 
him  ;  wNn  the  bill  was  presented  he  felt  in  hit 
pocket  i,  and  exclaimed,  'I  left  my  purse  *t 
no***.  No  matter;'  there  is  plenty  Vert;'  witJb 


•04  Tn  PlOflUEM    PlfcATM. 

wWck  be  seized  a  table-knife  and  ripped  him«ui 
open.  Eighteen  hundred  and  one,  d  ye  call  it  ? 
Soit.  But  let  it  be  your  secret,  my  friend.  The 
world  will  not  love  you  for  making  it  fifty  years 
older  than  it  is." 

It  was  ridiculous  to  attempt  to  combat  such 
obstinacy  as  this,  and  as  the  subject  produced 
nothing  but  excitement  and  irritation,  I  dropped 
it  and  meddled  with  it  no  more,  leaving  him  to 
his  conviction  that  I  was  cracked  in  this  one 
particular.  In  fact,  it  was  a  matter  of  no  conse- 
quence at  all ;  what  came  very  much  closer  home 
was  the  business  of  our  deliverance,  and  over  this 
we  talked  long  and  very  earnestly,  for  he  forgot 
to  be  mean  and  fierce  and  boastful,  and  I  to  dis- 
like and  fear  him,  when  we  spoke  of  getting 
away  with  our  treasure,  and  returning  to  our 
native  home, 

For  hour  after  hour  would  we  go  on  plotting 
and  planning  and  scheming,  stepping  about  the 
cook-house  in  our  earnestness,  and  entirely  en- 
grossed with  the  topic.  His  contention  was  that 
if  we  were  to  save  the  money  and  plate,  we  must 
save  the  schooner. 

"Unless  we  build  a  vessel,"  said  I. 

"Out  of  what?" 

"  Out  of  this  schooner." 

*  Are  you  a  carpenter  ?  "  said  be. 

"  No,"  I  replied. 

"  Neither  am  I,"  said  he.  "  It's  possible  we 
might  contrive  such  a  structure  as  would  enable  us 
to  save  our  lives ;  but  wev  have  not  the  skill  to  pro- 
duct a  vessel  big  enough  to  contain  those  chests  as 


Wl  TALK  OVML  OUE   SlTUATIOV.  *O$ 

well  as  ourselves,  and  the  stores  we  should  require  to 
take.  Besides,  do  you  know  there  is  no  labour 
more  fatiguing  than  knocking  such  a  craft  as 
this  to  pieces  ?  " 

This  I  very  wefl  believed,  and  it  was  truer 
of  such  a  vessel  as  the  Boca  del  Dragon  that 
was  a  perfect  bed  of  timber,  and,  like  the 
Laughing  Mary,  built  as  if  she  was  to  keep  the 
seas  for  three  hundred  years. 

*'  And  supposing,"  said  he, "  after  infinite  toil  we 
succeeded  in  breaking  up  as  much  of  her  as  we 
wanted,  what  appliances  have  we  for  reshaping 
the  curved  timbers  ?  and  where  are  we  to  lay  the 
keel  ?  Labour  as  we  might,  the  cold  would  prove 
too  much  for  us.  No,  Mr.  Rodney,  to  save  the 
treasure,  ay,  and  to  save  ourselves,  we  must  save 
the  ship.  Let  us  put  our  minds  to  that." 

In  this  way  we  would  reason,  and  I  confess  he 
talked  very  sensibly,  taking  very  practical  views, 
and  indicating  difficulties  which  my  more  ardent 
and  imaginative  nature  might  have  been  blind 
to  till  they  immovably  confronted  me,  and  ren- 
dered days  of  labour  useless.  But  how  was 
the  ship  to  be  saved  ?  Was  it  possible  to  force 
Nature's  hand ;  in  other  words,  to  anticipate  our 
release  by  the  dissolution  of  the  ice  ?  We  were 
both  agreed  that  this  was  the  winter  season  in 
these  seas,  though  he  instantly  grew  sulky  if  I 
mentioned  the  month,  for  he  was  as  certain  I 
was  as  mad  in  this,  as  in  the  year,  and  he  would 
eye  me  very  malignantly  if  I  persisted  in  calling 
it  July.  But,  as  I  have  said,  we  were  both  agreed 
that  the  summer  was  to  come,  and  though  we 


TifB  FPOZKH 

could  not  swear  that  the  ice  was  floating  north- 
wards,  we  had  a  right  to  believe  so,  in  spite  oi 
the  fierceness  of  the  cold,  this  being  the  trick 
of  all  these  frozen  estates  when  they  fetch  to 
the  heights  under  which  we  lay ;  and  we  would 
ask  each  other  whether  we  should  let  our  hands  and 
minds  rest  idle  and  wait  to  see  what  the  summer 
would  do  for  us,  or  essay  to  launch  the  schoo 

"  If,"  said  he,  "  we  wait  for  the  ice  to  break 
up  it  may  break  us  up  too." 

11  Yes,"  said  I ;  "  but  how  are  we  to  cut  the 
vessel  out  of  the  ice  in  which  she  is  seated  to 
above  the  garboafd  streak  ?  Waiting  is  odious 
and  intolerable  work  ;  but  my  own  conviction  is, 
nothing  is  to  be  done  till  the  sun  comes  this  way, 
and  the  ice  crumbles  into  bergs.  The  island  is 
leagues  long,  and  vanishes  in  the  south  ;  but  it  is 
wasting  fast  in  the  north,  and  when  this  gale  is 
done  I  shall  expect  to  see  twenty  bergs  where  it 
was  before  all  compact." 

As  you  may  guess,  our  long  conversations  left 
us   without  plans,  bitter    as    was  our  n 
vigorous  as  were  our  efforts  to  strike  upon  : 
likely    scheme.     However,    if   they    achieved    no 
more,  they  served  to  beguile  the  time,  and 
was  better  yet,  they  took   my  nind 

off   his   nauseous    and   revolting  recoiled 
that  it  was   only   now  an •' 
drained  a  full  bowl,  and  his   little  eyes   d 
their    thick-shagged    caves,  that   he 
with  his  memories  of  murder,  rapine,  plank-walk- 
ing, hanging,  treacheries  of  all  kinds,  and  cruelties 
too  barbarous  for  belief. 


Wl  TAKB  A   VlEW  OF  THE    Id. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

WB  TAKE  A  VIBW  OP  THE   ICB. 

FOR  seven  days  the  gale  raged  with  uncommon 
violence  :  it  then  broke,  and  this  brought  us  into 
the  first  week  of  August.  The  wind  fell  in  the 
night,  and  I  was  awakened  by  the  silence,  which 
you  will  not  think  strange  it  you  consider  how 
used  were  my  ears  to  the  fierce  seething  and 
strong  bellowing  of  the  blast.  I  lay  listening, 
believing  that  it  had  only  veered,  and  that  it  would 
come  on  again  in  gusts  and  guns ;  but  the  still- 
ness continued,  and  there  was  no  sound  what- 
ever, saving  the  noises  of  the  ice,  which  broke 
upon  the  air  like  slow  answers  from  batteries 
near  and  distant,  half  whose  cannons  have  been 
silenced. 

I  slept  again,  and  when  I  awoke  it  was  half* 
past  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  French- 
man was  snoring  lustily.  I  went  on  deck  before 
entering  the  cook-house,  and  had  like  to  have 
been  blinded  by  the  astonishing  brilliance  of  the 
sunshine  upon  the  ice  and  snow.  All  the  wind 
was  gone.  The  air  was  exquisitely  frosty  and 
sharp.  But  there  was  a  heavy  sound  coming 
from  the  sea  which  gave  me  to  expect  the  sight 
of  a  strong  swell.  The  sky  was  a  clear  blue,  and 
there  was  no  cloud  on  as  much  of  its  face  as 
showed  betwixt  the  brows  of  the  slopes. 

The  schooner  was  a  most  wonderful  picture  of 
drooping  icicles.  A  more  beautiful  and  radiant 
sight  you  could  not  figure.  FIWB  erory  tope, 


ao8  Ttn  FROZBV  PIRATB. 

from  the  yards  forward,  from  the  rails,  from 
whatever  water  could  run  in  a  stream,  hung 
glorious  ice-pendants  of  prismatic  splendour. 
No  snow  had  fallen  to  frost  the  surfaces,  and 
every  pendant  was  as  pure  and  polished 
cut-glass  and  reflected  a  hundred  brilliant 
colours.  The  water  hurled  over  and  on  the 
schooner  had  frozen  upon  the  masts,  rigging, 
and  decks,  and  as  this  ice,  like  the  pendants,  was 
very  sparklingly  bright,  it  gave  back  all  the  hues 
of  the  sunbeam,  so  that,  stepping  from  the  dark- 
ness of  the  cabin  into  this  effulgent  scene,  you 
might  easily  have  persuaded  yourself  that  before 
you  stood  the  fabric  of  a  ship  fashioned  out  of  a 
rainbow. 

My  attention,  however,  was  quickly  withdrawn 
from  this  shining  spectacle  by  the  appearance  of 
the  starboard  cliff  over  against  our  quarter.  The 
whole  shoulder  of  it  had  broken  away  and  I  could 
just  catch  a  view  of  the  horizon  of  the  sea  from 
the  deck  by  stretching  my  figure.  The  sight  of 
the  ocean  showed  me  that  the  breakage  had  been 
prodigious,  for  to  have  come  to  that  prospect 
before,  I  should  have  had  to  climb  to  the  height 
of  the  main  lower  masthead.  No  other  marked 
or  noteworthy  change  did  I  detect  from  the 
deck  ;  but  on  stepping  to  the  larboard  side  to 
peer  over  I  spied  a  split  in  the  ice  that  reached 
from  the  very  margin  of  the  ravine,  I  mean  to 
that  end  of  it  where  it  terminated  in  a  cliff,  to 
past  the  bows  of  the  schooner  by  at  least  four 
times  her  own  length. 

I  returned  to  the  cook-room  and  went  about  the 


Wl  TAKl   A    VIEW  OF   THE    Id.  9O9 

oM  business  of  lighting  the  fire  and  preparing 
the  breakfast — this  job  by  an  understanding  be- 
tween the  Frenchman  and  me,  falling  to  him  who 
was  first  out  of  bed — and  in  about  twenty  minutes 
Tassard  arrived. 

*  The  wind  is  gone,"  said  he. 

"  Yes/'  I  replied,  "  it  is  a  bright  still  morning. 
1  have  been  on  deck.  There  has  been  a  great  fall 
of  ice  close  to." 

"  Does  it  block  us  ?  " 

"  No,  on  the  contrary,  it  clears  the  way  to  the 
sea ;  the  ocean  is  now  visible  from  the  deck. 
Not  that  it  mends  our  case,"  I  added.  "  But 
there  is  a  great  rent  in  the  ice  that  puts  a 
fancy  into  my  head;  I'll  speak  of  it  later  after  a 
closer  look." 

The  breakfast  was  ready,  and  we  fell  to  in  a 
hurry,  the  Frenchman  gobbling  like  a  hog  in  his 
eagerness  to  make  an  end.  When  we  were  finished 
he  wrapped  himself  up  in  three  or  four  coats  and 
cloaks,  warming  the  under  ones  before  folding  them 
about  him,  and  completing  his  preparations  for 
the  excursion  by  swallowing  hali  a  pint  of  raw 
brandy.  I  -bade  him  arm  himself  with  a  short- 
headed  spear  to  save  his  neck ;  and  thus  equipped 
we  went  on  deck. 

He  stood  stock-still  with  his  eyes  shut  on 
emerging  through  the  hatch,  crying  out  with  a 
number  of  French  oaths  that  he  had  been  struck 
blind.  This  I  did  not  believe,  though  I  readily  sup- 
posed that  the  glare  made  his  eyeballs  smart  so  as 
tocause  him  a  good  deal  of  agony.  Indeed,  all  along 
I  had  befin. surprised  that  he  should  have  found  his 


a  io  THE  FROZEN  Pnum 

sight  »o  easily  after  having  sat  in  blindness  fm 
forty-eight  years,  and  it  was  not  wonderful  that 
the  amazing  brilliance  on  deck,  smiting  his  sight 
on  a  sudden,  should  have  caused  him  to  cry 
out  as  if  he  had  lost  the  use  of  his  eyes  for 
ever. 

I  waited  patiently,  and  in  about  ten  minutes  he 
was  able  to  look  about  him,  and  then  it  was  not 
long  before  he  could  see  without  pain.  He  stood 
a  minute  gazing  at  the  glories  upon  the  rigging, 
and  in  that  piercing  light  I  noticed  the  unwhole- 
some colour  of  his  lace.  His  cap  hid  the  scar, 
and  nothing  of  his  countenance  was  to  be  seen 
but  the  cheeks,  eyes,  and  nose;  he  was  much 
more  wrinkled  than  I  had  supposed,  and  methought 
the  spirit  of  cruelty  lay  visible  in  every  line, 
had  never  seen  eyes  so  full  of  cunning  and 
treachery — so  expressive,  I  should  say,  of  these 
qualities ;  yet  they  were  no  bigger  than  mere  punc- 
tures. I  was  sensible  of  a  momentary  fear  of  the 
man — not,  let  me  say,  an  emotion  of  cowardice 
— but  a  sort  of  mixture  of  alarm  and  awe,  such  as 
a  ghost  might  inspire.  This  I  put  down  to  the 
searching  light  in  which  I  watched  him  for  a 
moment  or  two,  an  irradiation  subtle  enough  to 
give  the  sharpest  form  to  expression,  to  exquisitely 
define  every  meaning  that  was  distinguishable  in 
his  graveyard  physiognomy.  I  left  him  to  stare 
and  judge  for  himself  of  the  posture  in  which  th« 
long  hard  gale  had  put  the  schooner  and  stc; 
over  to  the  two  bodies.  They  were  shrouded  in  icn 
from  head  to  foot,  as  though  thev  had  each  man 
been  packed  in  a  glass  case  cunningly  wrought  to 


Wl   TAK1   A   VlEW  Of   THl    fc»,  III 

their  shapes.    Their  faces  were  hid  by  the  crystal 

masks.     Tassard  joined  me. 

"  Small  chance  for  your  friends  now/'  said  I, 
"  even  if  you  were  agreeable  to  ray  proposal  to 
attempt  to  revive  them." 

"  So  ! "  cried  he,  touching  the  body  of  the  mate 
with  his  foot ;  "  and  this  is  the  end  of  the  irresis- 
tible Trentanove !  for  what  conquests  has  Death 
robed  him  so  bravely  ?  See,  the  colours  shine  in 
him  like  fifty  different  kinds  of  ribbands.  Poor 
fellow !  he  could  not  curl  his  moustachios  now, 
though  the  loveliest  eyes  in  Europe  were  fixed  in 
passionate  admiration  on  him.  He'll  never  slit 
another  throat,  nor  hiccup  Petrarch  over  a  goblet 
nor  remonstrate  with  me  on  my  humanity.  Shall 
we  toss  the  bodies  over  the  side  ?  " 

'  They  are  four  friends/'  said  I  ;  "  do  as  you 
please." 

"  But  we  must  empty  their  pockets  first.  Busi- 
ness before  sentiment,  Mr.  Rodney." 

He  stirred  the  figure  again  with  his  foot. 

11  Well,  presently,"  said  he,  "  this  armour  will 
want  the  hatchet.  Now,  my  friend,  to  view  the 
work  of  the  gale." 

The  increased  heel  of  the  ship  brought  the  lar- 
board fore-channel  low,  and  we  stepped  without 
difficulty  from  it  on  to  the  ice.  The  rent  or  fissure 
that  I  have  before  spoken  of  went  very  deep ;  it  was 
nearly  two  feet  wide  in  places,  but,  though  the  light 
poured  brilliantly  upon  it,  I  could  see  no  bottom. 

"  If  only  such  another  split  as  this  would  happen 
t'other  side,"  said  the  Frenchman.  "  I  believe  this 
block  would  go  adrift." 


til  THE  FROZEN  PIRAT». 

"  Well,"  said  I,  after  musing  a.  attic  whilst  I  ran 
my  eye  over  the  hollows,  "I'll  tell  you  what  was  in 
my  mind  just  now.  There  is  a  great  quantity  of 
gunpowder  in  the  hold ;  ten  or  a  dozen  barrels. 
By  dropping  large  parcels  of  it  into  the  crevices  on 
the  right  there,  and  firing  k  with  slow-matches — " 

He  interrupted  me  with  a  cry :  "  By  St.  Paul, 
you  have  it !  What  crevices  have  you  ?  " 

We  walked  briskly  round  the  vessel,  and  all 
about  her  beam  and  starboard  quarter  I  found,  in 
addition  to  the  seams  I  had  before  noticed,  many 
great  cracks  and  fissures,  caused  no  doubt  by  the 
fall  of  the  shoulder  of  the  slope.  I  pushed  on 
further  yet,  going  down  the  ravine,  as  I  have 
called  it,  until  I  came  to  the  edge;  and  here  I 
looked  down  from  a  height  of  some  twelve  or 
fourteen  feet — so  greatly  had  the  ice  sunk  or  been 
changed  by  the  weather — upon  the  ocean.  I 
called  to  Tassard.  He  approached  warily.  I 
believe  he  feared  I  might  be  tempted  to  give 
him  a  friendly  shove  over  the  edge. 

"  Observe  this  hollow,"- said  I  ;  "  the  split  there 
goes  down  to  the  water,  and  you  may  take  it  that 
the  block  is  wholly  disconnected  on  that  side. 
Now  look  at  the  face  of  the  ice,"  said  I,  point- 
ing to  the  starboard  or  right-hand  side ;  "  that 
crack  goes  as  far  as  the  vessel's  quarter,  and 
the  weakness  is  carried  on  to  past  the  bows  by 
the  other  rents.  Mr,  Tassard,  if  we  could  burst 
this  body  of  ice  by  an  explosion  from  its  moorings 
ahead  01  the  bowsprit,  where  it  is  all  too  compact, 
this  cradle  with  the  schooner  in  it  wil1  go  free  of 
the  parent  body." 


Wl  TAKB  A  VllW  OF  THE   I  CM. 

He  answered  promptly,  "Yes;  it  is  the  one 
and  only  plan.  That  crack  to  starboard  is  like 
teUing  us  what  to  do.  It  is  well  you  came  here. 
We  should  not  have  seen  it  from  the  top.  This 
valley  runs  steep.  You  must  expect  no  more  than 
the  surface  to  be  liberated,  for  the  foot  of  the  cliff 
will  go  deep." 

"  I  desire  no  more.*' 

"  Will  the  ship  stand  such  a  launch,  supposing 
we  bring  it  about  ?  "  said  he. 

I  responded  with  one  of  his  own  shrugs,  and 
said,  "  Nothing  is  certain.  We  have  one  of  two 
courses  to  choose  :  to  venture  this  launch,  or  stay 
till  the  ice  breaks  up,  and  take  our  chance  of  float- 
ing or  of  being  smashed." 

"  You  are  right,"  he  exclaimed.  "  Here  is  an 
opportunity.  If  we  wait,  bergs  may  gather  about 
this  point  and  build  us  in.  As  to  this  island 
dissolving,  we  are  yet  to  know  which  way  'tis  head- 
ing. Suppose  it  should  be  travelling  south,  hey  !  " 

He  struck  the  ice  with  his  spear,  and  we  toiled 
up  the  slippery  rocks  with  difficulty  to  the  ship. 
We  walked  past  the  bows  to  the  distance  of  the 
vessel's  length.  Here  were  many  deep  holes  and 
cracks,  and  as  if  we  were  to  be  taught  how  these 
came  about,  even  whilst  we  were  viewing  them  an 
ear-splitting  crash  of  noise  happened  within  twenty 
fathoms  of  us,  a  rock  many  tons  in  weight  rolled 
over,  and  left  a  black  gulf  behind  it. 

The  Frenchman  started,  muttered,  and  crossed 
himself.  "  Holy  Virgin  !  "  he  cried,  rolling  his 
eyes.  "  Let  us  return  to  the  schooner.  We  shall 
be  swallowed  up  here." 


§14  Tn  FROZKM  PIRATB. 

I  own  I  was  not  a  little  terrified  my  sell  b\ 
sudden  loud  blast  and  the  thunder  of  the  uprooted 
rock,  and  the  sight  of  the  huge  black  rent ;  but  I 
meant  to  view  the  scene  from  the  top,  and  to  con- 
sider how  best  to  dispose  of  the  powder  in  the 
cracks,  and  said,  "There  is  nothing  to  be  done  on 
board ;  skulking  below  will  not  deliver  us  or  pre- 
serve the  treasure.  Here  are  several  fissures  big 
enough  to  receive  barrels  of  gunpowder.  See! 
Mr.  Tassard,  as  they  stand  they  cover  the  whole 
width  of  the  hollow." 

And  I  proceeded  to  give  him  my  ideas  as  to 
lowering,  fixing  the  barrels,  and  the  like.  He 
nodded  his  head,  and  said,  "  Yes,  very  good  ; 
yes,  it  will  do,"  and  so  on  ;  but  was  too  scared  in 
his  heart,  I  believe,  to  see  my  full  meaning.  He 
was  perpetually  moving,  as  if  he  feared  the  ice 
would  split  under  his  feet,  and  his  eyes  trav 
over  the  face  of  the  rocks  with  every  manifestation 
of  alarm  in  their  expression.  I  wondered  how 
so  poor  a  creature  should  ever  have  had  stomach 
enough  to  serve  as  a  pirate  ;  no  doubt  his  spirit 
had  been  enfeebled  by  his  long  'sleep ;  but  then 
it  is  also  true  that  the  greatest  bullies  and  i 
bloodthirsty  rogues  prove  themselves  despi< 
curs  under  conditions  which  make  no  demand 
««pon  their  temper  or  their  lust  for  plund 

He  would  have  returned  to  the  ship,  had  I 
:ouraged  him,  but  on  seeing  me  start  to  climb  to 
the  brow  he  followed.     The  prospect  disappointed 
me.     I  had  expected  to  witness  a  variety  of  sur- 
prising  changes;    but    southward   tin 
scarce  altered.     It  was  a  wonder 


Wl  TAWS   A    VIEW   OF   THE    Id, 

ing,  the  sky  clear  from  sea-line  to  sea-line,  and 
of  a  very  soft  blue,  the  ocean  of  a  like  hue,  with 
a  high  swell  running,  that  was  a  majestic  undula- 
tion even  from  the  height  at  which  I  surveyed  it. 
The  sun' stood  over  the  ice  in  the  north-east,  and 
the  dazzle  kept  me  weeping,  so  intolerable  was 
the  effulgence.  Half  of  the  delicate  architecture 
that  had  enriched  the  slopes  and  surfaces  that 
way  was  swept  down,  and  ice  lay  piled  in  places 
to  an  elevation  of  many  feet,  where  before  it  had 
been  flat  or  hollow.  However,  there  was  no  ques- 
tion but  that  the  gale  had  played  havoc  with  the 
north  extremity  of  the  island  :  I  counted  no  less 
than  twenty  bergs  floating  off  the  main,  and  it  was 
quite  likely  the  sea  was  crowded  beyond,  though 
my  sight  could  not  travel  so  far. 

However,  when  I  came  to  look  close,  and  to 
recollect  the  features  of  the  shore  as  they  showed 
when  I  first  landed,  I  found  some  vital  changes 
near  at  hand.  Where  my  haven  had  been  the  ice 
had  given  way  and  left  a  gap  half  a  mile  broad 
and  a  hundred  feet  deep.  The  fall  on  the 
schooner's  starboard  quarter  was  very  heavy, 
and  the  ice  was  split  in  all  directions  ;  and  in 
parts  was  so  loose  that  a  point  of  cliff  hard  upon 
the  sea  rocked  with  the  swell.  When  Tassard 
came  to  a  stand  he  looked  about  him  north  and 
south,  shading  his  eyes  with  his  hand,  and  then 
swearing  very  savagely  in  French,  he  cried  out  in 
English,  freely  employing  oaths  as  he  spoke, — 

'  Why,  here's  as  much  ice  as  there  was  before 
I  fell  asleep !  See  yonder ! "  pointing  to  the 
south.  "  It  dies  out  in  the  distance.  If  it  does 


ai6  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

not  join  the  pole  there,  may  the  devil  rise  before 
me  as  I  speak.  Thunder  and  fury !  I  had  hoped 
to  see  it  shrivelled  to  an  ordinary  berg ! " 

'  What !  in  a  week  ?'f  cried  I,  as  if  I  believed 
his  stupor  had  not  lasted  longer. 

He  returned  no  answer  and  gaped  about  him 
full  of  consternation  and  passion. 

"  And  are  we  to  wait  for  our  deliverance  till  this 
continent  breaks  up  ?"  he  bawled.  "  The  dav  of 
judgment  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past  by  that  time. 
Travelling  north  !  'sdeath  !  "  he  roared,  his  mouth 
full  of  the  expletives  of  his  day,  French  and 
English.  "  Who  but  a  madman  could  suppose 
that  this  ice  is  not  as  fixed  as  the  antarctic  circle 
to  which  it  is  moored  ?  Why,  six  months  ago  it 
was  no  bigger  than  it  is  now  ! "  And  he  sent  a 
furious  terrified  gaze  into  the  white  solitudes 
vanishing  in  azure  faintness  in  the  south- 
west. 

It  was  not  a  thing  to  reason  upon.  I  was  as 
much  disappointed  as  he  by  the  trifling  changes 
the  gale  had  made,  and  my  heart  felt  very  heavy  at 
the  sight  of  the  great  field  disappearing  in  the 
south.  The  bergs  in  the  north  signified  little. 
It  is  true  they  indicated  demolition,  but  demolition 
so  slow  as  to  be  worthless  to  us.  It  was  not  to 
be  questioned  that  the  island  was  proceeding  north, 
but  at  what  rate  ?  Here,  perhaps,  might  be  a 
frozen  crescent  of  forty  or  fifty  leagues :  and  at 
what  speed,  appreciable  enough  to  be  of  the 
lenst  consequence  to  our  calculations,  should  such 
c'  body  travel  ? 

I  looked  at  the  Frenchman. 


A  MERRY  EVENING.  1x7 

"  This  must  decide  us !  "  said  I.  "We  must 
fix  on  one  of  two  courses :  endeavour  to  launch 
the  ship  by  blowing  up  the  ice,  or  turn  to  and  rig 
up  the  best  arrangement  we  can  contrive  and  put 


to  sea." 


'  Yes,"  he  answered}  scowling  as  he  darted  his 
enraged  eyes  over  the  ice.  "  Better  set  a  slow- 
match  in  the  magazine  and  drink  ourselves 
senseless,  and  so  blow  ourselves  to  hell,  than 
linger  here  in  the  hope  that  this  continent  will 
dissolve  and  release  us.  Where's  Mendoza's 
body  ?  " 

I  stared  about  me,  and  then  pointing  to  the 
huge  gap  the  ice  had  made,  answered,  "It  was 
there.  Where  it  is  now  I  know  not." 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders,  took  another  view 
of  the  ice  and  the  ocean,  and  then  cried 
impatiently,  "  Let  us  return  !  the  powder- barrels 
must  have  the  first  chance."  And  he  made  for 
the  schooner,  savagely  striking  the  ice  with  his 
spear  and  growling  curses  to  himself  as  he 
ploughed  and  climbed  and  jumped  his  way  along. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

A  MERRY   EVENING. 

BY  the  time  we  had  reached  the  bottom  of  the 
hollow  Tassard  was  blowing  like  a  bellows  with 
the  uncommon  exertion  ;  and  swearing  that  he 
felt  the  cold  penetrating  his  bones,  and  that  he 
should  be  stupefied  again  if  he  did  not  mind,  he 
climbed  into  the  ship  and  disappeared.  I  loved 
him  so  little  that  secretly  I  very  heartily  wished 


*i8  THE  FROZEN  PTRATM. 

that  nature  would  make  away  with  him :  I  mean 
that  something  it  would  be  impossible  in  me  to 
lay  to  my  conscience  should  befall  him,  as  becom- 
ing comatose  again,  and  so  lying  like  one  dead. 
Assuredly  in  such  a  case  it  was  not  this  hand  that 
would  have  wasted  a  drop  of  brandy  in  returning 
an  evil,  white-livered,  hectoring  old  rascal  to  a  life 
that  smelled  foully  with  him  and  the  like  of 
him. 

It  was  so  still  a  day  that  the  cold  did  not  try 
me  sorely  :  there  was  vitality  if  not  warmth  in  the 
light  of  the  sun,  and  I  was  heated  with  clambering. 
So  I  stayed  a  full  half-hour  after  my  companion  had 
vanished  examining  the  ice  about  the  schooner ; 
which  careful  inspection  repaid  me  to  the  extent 
of  giving  me  to  see  that  if  by  blasts  of  gunpowder 
I  could  succeed  in  rupturing  the  ice  ahead  of  the 
schooner's  bows  there  was  a  very  good  chance  of 
the  mass  on  which  she  lay  going  adrift.  Yet  I 
will  not  deny  that  though  I  recognized  this  busi- 
ness of  dislocation  as  our  only  chance — for  I  could 
see  little  or  nothing  to  be  done  in  the  way  of 
building  a  boat  proper  to  swim  and  ply — I  fore- 
boded a  dismal  issue  to  our  adventure,  even  should 
we  succeed  in  separating  this  block  from  the  main. 
In  fine,  what  I  feared  was  that  the  weight  of  the 
schooner  would  overset  the  ice  and  drown  her 
and  us. 

I  entered  the  ship  and  found  Tassard  roasting 
himself  in  the  cook-house. 

"  How  melancholy  is  this  gloom/'  said  I,  "after 
the  glorious  white  sunshine  !  " 

"Yes/'   said    he,  "  but  it  is    warm.     That  is 


A  MERRY  EVENIWO,  919 

enough  for  me.     Curse  the  cold,  say  I.     It  robs  a 

man  of  all  spirit.  To  grapple  with  this  rigour  one 
should  have  fed  all  one's  life  on  blubber.  I  defy  a 
man  to  be  brave  when  he  is  half-frozen.  I  feel  a 
match  for  any  three  men  now  ;  but  on  the  heights 
a  flea  would  have  made  me  run." 

He  pulled  a  pot  from  the  bricks  and  filled  his 
pannikin. 

"  I  have  been  surveying  the  ice,"  said  I,  drawing 
to  the  furnace,  "  and  have  very  little  doubt  that  if 
we  wisely  bestow  the  powder  in  great  quantities 
we  shall  succeed  in  dislocating  the  bed  on  which 
we  are  lying." 

"  Good ! "  he  cried. 

"But  after?"  said  I. 

11  What  ?  " 

"  As  much  of  this  bed  as  may  be  dislodged 
will  not  be  deep  :  icebergs,  as  of  course  you  know, 
capsize  in  consequence  of  their  becoming  top- 
heavy  by  the  wasting  of  the  bulk  that  is  sub- 
merged. This  block  will  make  but  a  small  berg 
should  we  liberate  it,  and  I  very  much  fear  that 
the  weight  of  the  schooner  will  overset  it  the 
instant  we  are  launched." 

"  Body  of  Moses ! "  he  cried  angrily,  knitting 
his  brows,  whereby  he  stretched  the  scar  to  half 
its  usual  width,  "  what's  to  be  done,  then  ?  " 

"  She  is  a  full  ship,"  said  I,  "  and  weighty.  If 
the  liberated  ice  be  thin  she  may  sit  up  OR  it 
and  keep  it  under.  We  have  a  right  to  hope  in 
that  direction,  perhaps.  Yet  there  is  another 
consideration.  She  may  leak  like  a  sieve  !  " 

"Why?"    he   exclaimed.     "She  took  the  ice 


390  THV  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

smoothly ;  she  has  not  been  strained  ;  she  was  as 
tight  as  a  bottle  before  she  stranded  ;  the  coating 
of  ice  will  have  cherished  her ;  and  a  stout  ship 
like  this  does  not  suffer  from  six  months  of  lying 
up!" 

Six  months,  thought  I ! 

"  Well,  it  may  be  as  you  say  ;  but  if  she  leaks 
it  will  not  be  in  our  four  arms  to  keep  her  free." 

He  exclaimed  hotly,  "Mr.  Rodney,  if  we  are  to 
escape,  we  must  venture  something.  To  stay 
here  means  death  in  the  end.  I  am  persuaded 
that  this  ice  is  joined  with  some  vast  main  body 
far  south  and  that  it  does  not  move.  What  is 
there,  then,  to  wait  for?  There  is  promise  in 
your  gunpowder  proposal.  If  she  capsizes  then 
the  devil  will  get  his  own."  And  with  a  savage 
flourish  of  the  pannikin  he  put  it  to  his  lips  and 
drained  it. 

His  sullen  determination  that  we  should  stand 
or  fall  by  my  scheme  was  not  very  useful  to  me. 
I  had  looked  for  some  shrewdness  in  him,  some 
capacity  of  originating  and  weighing  ideas  ;  but  I 
found  he  could  do  little  more  than  curse  and 
swagger  and  ply  his  can,  in  which  he  found  most 
of  his  anecdotes  and  recollections  and  not  a  little 
of  his  courage.  I  pulled  out  my  watch,  as  I  must 
call  it,  and  observed  that  it  was  hard  upon  one 
o'clock. 

<4  Tis  lucky,"  said  he,  eying  the  watch  greedily 
and  coming  to  it  away  from  the  great  subject  of 
our  deliverance  as  though  the  sight  of  the  fine 
gold  thing  with  its  jewelled  letter  extinguished 
every  other  thought  in  him,  "  that  you  removed  that 


A  MBKRY  EYBVIVG,  tn 

watch  from  Mer.rfora,  But  he  will  have  carried 
other  good  to  the  bottom  with  him,  I  fear." 

His  flask  and  tobacco-box  I  took  away/'  said 
"  He  had  nothing  of  consequence  besides. " 

1  They  must  go  into  the  common-chest,"  cried 
he  ;  "  'tis  share  and  share,  you  know." 

"Ay,"  said  I5  "  but  what  I  found  on  Mendoza 
is  mine  by  the  highest  right  under  heaven.  If  I 
had  not  taken  the  things,  they  would  now  be  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea." 

r<  What  of  that?"  cried  he  savagely.  "  If  we 
had  not  plundered  the  galleon,  she  might  have  been 
wrecked  and  taken  all  she  had  down  with  her. 
Yet  should  such  a  consideration  hinder  a  fair  divi- 
sion as  between  us — between  you  who  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  pillage  and  me  who  risked  my  life 
in  it  ?  " 

I  said,  "  Very  well  ;  be  it  as  you  say,"  appear- 
ing to  consent,  for  there  was  something  truly 
absurd  in  an  altercation  about  a  few  guineas' 
worth  of  booty  in  the  face  of  our  melancholy  and 
most  perilous  situation  ;  though  it  not  only  enabled 
me  to  send  a  deeper  glance  into  the  mind  of  this 
man  than  I  had  yet  been  able  to  manage,  but 
made  me  understand  a  reason  for  the  bloody  and 
furious  quarrels  which  have  again  and  again  arisen 
among  persons  standing  on  the  brink  of  eternity, 
to  whom  a  cup  of  drink  or  the  sight  of  a  ship  had 
been  more  precious  than  the  contents  of  the  Bank 
of  England. 

I  set  about  getting  the  dinner. 

'  Whilst  vou  are  at  that  work/'  cried  he,  start- 
in?  up,  "  I'll  overhaul  the  pockets  of  the  bodies  on 


TH»  FROZBM  Piium 

deck;"  and,  picking  up  a  chopper,  away  he  went, 
and  I  heard  him  cursing  in  his  native  tongue  as 
he  stumbled  to  the  companion-ladder  through  the 
darkness  in  the  cabin. 

His  rapacity  was  beyond  credence.  There  was 
an  immense  treasure  in  the  hold,  yet  he  could  not 
leave  the  pockets  of  the  two  poor  wretches  on 
deck  alone.  I  did  not  envy  him  hii  task.  The 
frozen  figures  would  bear  a  deal  of  hammering ; 
and  besides  he  had  to  work  in  the  cold.  Ah, 
thought  I  with  a  groan,  I  should  have  left  him  to 
make  one  of  them  ! 

I  had  finished  my  dinner  by  the  time  he  arrived. 
He  produced  the  watch  I  had  taken  from  and  re- 
turned to  the  mate's  pocket  when  I  had  searched 
him  for  a  tinder-box  ;  also  a  gold  snuff-box  set 
with  diamonds,  and  a  few  Spanish  pieces  in  gold. 
On  seeing  these  things  I  remembered  that  I  had 
found  some  rings  and  money  in  his  pockets  whilst 
overhauling  him  for  means  to  obtain  fir* ;  but  I 
held  my  peace. 

14  Should  not  we  hare  been  imbeciles  to  sacrifice 
these  beauties  ?  "  he  cried,  viewing  the  watch  and 
snuff-box  with  a  rapturous  grin. 

"They  were  hard  to  come  at,  I  expect?" 

"  No,"  he  answered,  pocketing  them  and  turning 
to  a  piect  of  btcf  in  the  oven.  "  I  knocked  away 
the  ic«  and  after  a  little  wrenching  got  at  the 
pockets.  But  poor  Trentanove  1  d'y«  know,  his 
nose  cam«  away  with  the  mask  of  ice  1  He  is  no 
longer  lovely  to  the  sight  1"  He  broke  into  a 
guffaw,  then  stuffed  his  mouth  full  and  talked  in 
the  intervals  of  chewing.  'There  was  nothing 


A  MnutT  Evnmro.  tij 

worth  taking  on  Barros.  They  a*t  both  over- 
board." 

"  Overboard !  "  I  cried. 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  he.  "  They  are  no  good  on 
deck.  I  stood  them  against  the  rail,  then  tipped 
them  over." 

This  was  an  illustration  of  his  strength  I  did  not 
much  relish. 

"  I  doubt  if  I  could  have  lifted  Barros/'  said  I. 

"  Not  you  1 "  he  exclaimed,  running  his  eye  over 
me.  "A  dead  Dutchman  would  have  the  weight 
of  a  fairy  alongside  Barros." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Tassard,"  said  I,  "  since  you  are  so 
strong,  you  will  be  very  useful  to  our  scheme. 
There  is  much  to  be  done." 

"  Give  me  a  sketch  of  your  plans,  that  I  may 
understand  you,"  he  exclaimed,  continuing  to  eat 
very  heartilv. 

11  First  of  all/'  said  I,  "we  shall  have  to  break 
the  powder-barrels  out  of  the  magazine  and  hoist 
them  on  deck.  There  are  tackles,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  You  should  be  able  to  find  what  you  want 
among  the  boatswain's  stores  in  the  run,"  he  re- 
plied. 

I  There  are  some  splits  wide  enough  to  receive 
a  whole  barrel  of  powder,"  said  I.     "I  counted 
four  such  yawns  all  happily  lying  in  a  line  athwart 
the  ice  past  the  bows.     I  propose  to  sink  these 
barrels  twenty  feet  deep,  where  they  must  hang 
from  a  piece  of  spar  across  the  aperture." 

He  nodded. 

II  Have  you  any  slow-matches  aboard  ?  * 

"  Plenty  among  the  gunner's  stores,"  he  replied. 


3*4  THE  FROZEN  PIRATB, 

"There  are  but  you  and  me,"  said  I;  "these 
operations  will  take  time.  We  must  mind  not  to 
be  blown  up  by  one  barrel  whilst  we  are  suspend- 
ing another.  We  shall  have  to  lower  the  barrels 
with  their  matches  on  fire  and  they  must  be  timed 
to  burn  an  hour. 

"  Ay,  certainly,  at  leait  an  hour,"  he  exclaimed. 
11  Two  hours  would  be  better." 

"  Well,  that  must  depend  upon  the  number  of 
parcels  of  matches  we  meet  with.  There  will  be 
a  good  many  mines  to  spring,  and  one  must  not 
explode  before  another.  Tis  the  united  force  of 
the  several  blasts  which  we  must  reckon  on.  The 
contents  of  at  least  four  more  barrels  of  powder 
we  must  distribute  amongst  the  other  chinks  and 
splits  in  such  parcels  as  they  will  be  able  to  re- 


ceive." 


"And  then?" 

"  And  then,"  said  I,  "  we  must  await  the  explo- 
sion and  trust  to  the  mercy  of  Heaven  to  help  us." 

He  made  a  hideous  face,  as  if  this  was  a  sort  of 
talk  to  nauseate  him,  and  said,  "  Do  you  propose 
that  we  should  remain  on  board  or  watch  the  effects 
from  a  distance  ?  " 

"  Why,  remain  on  board  of  course,"  I  answered. 
"  Suppose  the  mines  liberated  the  ice  on  which 
the  schooner  lies  and  it  floated  away,  what  should 
we,  watching  at  a  distance,  do  ?  " 

"  True,"  cried  he,  "  but  it  is  cursed  perilous. 
The  explosion  might  blow  the  ship  up." ' 

"  No,  it  will  not  do  that.  We  shall  be  bad 
engineers  if  we  bring  such  a  thing  about.  The 
danger  will  be— providing  the  schooner  is  released 


EVENING. 

— in  her  capsizing,  ax  I  have  before  pointed 
out." 

"  Enough  I  "  cried  he,  charging  his  pannikin  for 
the  third  time.  "  We  must  chance  her  capsizing." 

"  If  I  had  a  crew  at  my  back,"  said  I,  "  I  would 
carry  an  anchor  and  cable  to  the  shoulder  of  the 
cliff  at  the  end  of  the  slope  to  hold  the  ship  if  she 
swam.  I  would  also  put  a  quantity  of  provisions 
on  the  ice  along  with  materials  for  making  us 
shelter  and  the  whole  of  the  stock  of  coal,  so  that 
we  could  go  on  supporting  life  here  if  the  schooner 
capsized." 

'  Then/'  said  he,  "  you  would  remain  ashore 
during  the  explosion  ?  " 

"  Most  certainly.  But  as  all  these  preparations 
would  mean  a  degree  of  labour  impracticable  by 
us  two  men,  I  am  for  the  bold  venture — prepare 
and  fire  the  mines,  return  to  the  ship,  and  leave 
the  rest  to  Providence." 

He  made  another  ugly  face  and  indulged  him- 
self in  a  piece  of  profanity  that  was  inexpressibly 
disgusting  and  mean  in  the  mouth  of  a  man  who 
was  used  to  cross  himself  when  alarmed  and 
swear  by  the  saints.  But  perhaps  he  knew,  even 
better  than  I,  how  little  he  had  to  expect  from 
Providence.  He  filled  his  pipe,  exclaiming  that 
when  he  had  smoked  it  out  we  should  Kill  to 
work. 

Now  that  I  had  settled  a  plan  I  was  eager  to 
put  it  into  practice — hot  and  wild  indeed  with  the 
impatience  and  hope  of  the  castaway  animated 
with  the  dream  of  recovering  his  liberty  and  pre- 
serving his  life ;  and  I  was  the  more  anxious  to 


ia6  THE  FROZEN  I*num 

set  about  the  business  at  once,  on  account  of  the 
weather  being  fair  and  still,  for  if  it  came  on  to 
blow  a  stormy  wind  again  we  should  be  forced  as 
before  under  hatches.  But  I  had  to  wait  for  the 
Frenchmr  n  to  empty  his  pipe.  He  was  so  com- 
plete a  sensualist  that  I  beueve  nothing  short  of 
terror  could  have  forced  him  to  shorten  the  period 
of  a  pleasure  by  a  second  of  time.  He  went  on 
puffing  so  deliberately,  with  such  leisurely  enjoy- 
ment of  the  flavour  of  the  smoke,  that  I  expected 
to  see  him  fall  asleep ;  and  my  patience  becoming 
exhausted  I  jumped  up ;  but  by  this  time  his  bowl 
held  nothing  but  black  ashes. 

"  Now,"  cried  he,  "  to  work." 

And  he  rose  with  a  prodigious  yawn  and  seized 
the  lanthorn.  Our  first  business  was  to  hunt 
among  the  boatswain's  stores  in  the  run  for  tackles 
to  hoist  the  powder-barrels  up  with.  There  was  a 
good  collection,  as  might  have  been  expected  in 
a  pirate  whose  commerce  lay  in  slinging  goods 
from  other  ships'  holds  into  her  own ;  but  the  ropes 
were  frozen  as  hard  as  iron,  to  remedy  which  \ve 
carried  an  armful  to  the  cook-house,  and  left  the 
tackles  to  lie  and  soften.  We  also  conveyed  to 
the  cook-house  a  quantity  of  ratline  stuff — a  thin 
rope  used  for  making  of  the  steps  in  the  shroud 
ladders  ;  this  being  a  line  that  would  exactly  serve 
to  suspend  the  smaller  parcels  of  powder  in  the 
splits.  Before  touching  the  powder-barrels  we 
put  a  lighted  candle  into  the  bull's-eye  lamp  over 
the  door  and  removed  the  lanthorn  to  a  safe  dis- 
tance. Tassard  was  perfectly  well  acquainted 
with  the  contents  of  this  storeroom,  and  on  my 


A  MB&RY  EVBVIBO.  1*7 

asking  for  the  matches  put  his  hand  on  one  of 

several  bags  of  them.  They  varied  in  length, 
some  being  six  inches  and  some  making  a  big 
coil.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  sample  and 
test  them,  and  this  I  told  Tassard  could  be  done 
that  evening.  The  main  hatch  was  just  forward 
of  the  gim-room  bulkhead ;  we  seized  a  handspike 
apiece  and  went  to  work  to  prize  the  cover  open. 
It  was  desperate  tough  labour;  as  bad  as  trying 
to  open  an  oyster  with  a  soft  blade.  The  French- 
man broke  out  into  many  strange  oloSfashioned 
oaths  in  his  own  tongue,  imagining  the  hatch  to 
be  frozen ;  but  though  I  don't  doubt  the  frost  had 
something  to  do  with  it,  its  obstinacy  was  mainly 
owing  to  time,  that  had  soldered  it,  so  to  speak, 
with  the  stubbornness  that  eight-and-forty  years 
will  communicate  to  a  fixture  which  ice  has 
cherished  and  kept  sound. 

We  got  the  hatch  open  at  lasfc— be  pleased  to 
know  that  I  am  speaking  of  the  hatch  in  the 
lower  deck,  for  there  was  another  immediately 
over  it  on  the  upper  or  main  deck — and  returning 
to  the  powder-room  rolled  the  barrels  forward 
ready  for  slinging  and  hoisting  away  when  we 
should  have  rigged  a  tackle  aloft.  We  had  not 
done  much,  but  what  we4  had  done  had  eaten  far 
into  the  afternoon. 

^  "  I  am  tired  and  hungry  and  thirsty/'  said  the 
Frenchman.  "  Let  us  knock  off.  We  have  made 
good  progress.  No  use  opening  the  main-deck 
hatch  to-night :  the  vessel  is  cold  enough  even 
when  hermetically  corked." 

"  Very  well,"  said  I,  bringing  my  watch  to  the 


ta8  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

lanthorn  and  observing  the  time  to  be  sundown  : 

so,  carefully  extinguishing  the  candle  in  the  bull's- 
eye  lamp,  we  took  each  of  us  a  bag  of  matches 
and  went  to  the  cook-room. 

There  was  neither  tea  nor  coffee  in  the  ship.  1 
so  pined  for  these  soothing  drinks  that  I  would 
have  given  all  the  wine  in  the  vessel  for  a  few 
pounds  of  either  one  of  them.  A  senseless,  un- 
gracious yearning,  indeed,  in  the  face  of  the  plenty 
that  was  aboard  !  but  it  was  the  plenty,  perhaps, 
that  provoked  it.  There  was  chocolate,  which  the 
Frenchman  frothed  and  drank  with  hearty  enjoy- 
ment ;  he  also  devoured  handfuls  of  succades^ 
which  he  would  wash  down  with  wine.  These 
things  made  me  sick,  and  for  drink  I  was  forced 
upon  the  spirits  and  wine,  the  latter  of  which  was 
so  generous  that  it  promised  to  combine  with  the 
enforced  laziness  of  my  life  under  hatches  to  make 
me  fat ;  so  that  I  am  of  opinion  had  we  waited 
for  the  ice  to  release  us,  I  should  have  become  so 
corpulent  as  to  prove  a  burden  to  myself. 

I  mention  this  here  that  you  may  find  an  excuse 
in  it  for  the  only  act  of  folly  in  the  way  of  drink- 
ing that  I  can  lay  to  my  account  whilst  I  \v. 
this  pirate  ;  for  I  must  tell  you  that,  on  returning 
to  the  furnace,  we,  to  refresh  us  after  our  labour, 
made  a  bowl  of  punch,  of  which  I  drank  so  plenti- 
fully that  I  began  to  feel  myself  very  merry.  I 
forgot  all  about  the  matches  and  my  resolution  to 
test  them  that  night.  The  Frenchman,  enjoying 
my  condition,  continued  to  pledge  me  till  his  little 
eyes  danced  in  his  head.  Luckily  for  me,  being 
at  bottom  of  a  very  jolly  disposition,  drink  never 


A  MKRRY  FVKW?W*»  §99 

served  me  worse  than  to  develop  that  quality  in 
me.  No  man  could  ever  say  that  I  was  quarrel- 
some in  my  cups.  My  progress  was  marked  by 
stupid  smiles,  terminating  in  unmeaning  laughter. 
The  Frenchman  sang  a  ballad  about  love  and 
Picardy,  and  the  like,  and  I  gave  him  "  Hearts 
of  Oak,"  the  sentiments  of  which  song  kept  him 
shrugging  his  shoulders  and  drunkenly  looking 
contempt. 

We  continued  singing  alternately  for  some 
time,  until  he  fell  to  setting  up  his  throat  when 
I  was  at  work,  and  this  confused  and  stopped 
me.  He  then  favoured  me  with  what  he  called 
the  Pirate's  Dance,  a  very  wild,  grotesque  move- 
ment, with  no  elegance  whatever  to  be  hurt  by 
his  being  in  liquor ;  and  I  think  I  see  him 
now,  whipping  off  his  coat,  and  sprawling  and 
flapping  about  in  high  boots  and  a  red  waist- 
coat, flourishing  his  arms,  snapping  his  fingers, 
and  now  and  again  bursting  into  a  stave  to  keep 
step  to.  When  he  was  done,  I  took  the  floor  with 
the  hornpipe,  whistling  the  air,  and  double- 
shuffling,  toe-and-heeling,  and  quivering  from  one 
leg  to  another  very  briskly.  He  lay  back  against 
the  bulkhead  grasping  a  can  half  full  of  punch, 
roaring  loudly  at  my  antics;  and  when  If  sank 
down,  breathless,  would  have  had  me  go  on, 
hiccuping  that  though  he  had  known  scores  of 
English  sailors,  he  had  never  seen  that  dance 
better  performed. 

By  this  time  I  was  extremely  excited  and 
extraordinarily  merry,  and  losing  hold  of  my  judg- 
ment began  to  indulge  in  sundry  pleasantries 


concerning   his   natior  tryi 

with  many  explosions  of  laughter,  how  it  was  that 
they  continued  at  the  trouble  of  building  ships  for 
us  to  use  against  them,  and  if  he  did  not  think 
i  he  "  flower  de  louse "  a  neater  symbol  for 
people  who  put  snuff  into  their  soup  and  re- 
stricted their"  ablutions  to  their  faces  than  the 
tricolour,  being  too  muddled  to  consider  that  he 
was  ignorant  of  that  flag ;  and  in  short  I  was  so 
offensive,  in  spite  of  my  ridiculous  merriment,  that 
his  savage  nature  broke  out.  He  assailed  the 
English  with  every  injurious  term  his  drunken 
condition  suffered  him  to  recollect ;  and  starting 
up  with  his  little  eyes  wildly  rolling,  he  clapped 
his  hand  to  his  side,  as  if  feeling  fora  sword,  and 
calling  me  by  a  very  ugly  French  word,  bade  me 
come  on,  and  he  would  show  me  the  difference 
between  a  Frenchman  and  a  beast  of  an  English- 
man. 

I  laughed  at  him  with  all  my  might,  which  so 
enraged  him  that,  swaying  to  right  and  left,  he 
advanced  as  if  to  fall  upon  me.  I  started  to  my 
feet  and  tumbled  over  the  bench  I  had  jumped 
from,  and  lay  sprawling ;  and  the  bench  over- 
setting close  to  him,  he  kicked  against  it  and  fell 
too,  fetching  the  deck  a  very  hard  blow.  He 
groaned  heavily  and  muttered  that  he  was  killed. 
1  tried  to  rise,  but  my  legs  gave  war,  and  then 
the  fumes  of  the  punch  overpowered  me,  for  I 
recollect  no  more. 

When  I  awoke  it  was  pitch  dark.  My  hands, 
legs,  and  feet  seemed  formed  of  ice,  my  head  of 
burning  brass.  I  thought  I  was  in  my  cot,  and 


A   MUULY    EVKMIMO. 

tth  with  my  hands  till  I  touched  Tassard's  cold 
bald  head,  which  so  terrified  me  that  I  uttered  a 
loud  cry  and  sprang  erect.  Then  recollection 
returnee!,  and  I  heartily  cursed  myself  for  my  folly 
and  wickedness.  Good  God  !  thought  I,  that  I 
should  be  so  mad  as  to  drown  my  senses  when 
never  was  any  wretch  in  such  need  of  all  his 
reason  as  I  ! 

The  boatswain's  tinder-box  was  in  my  pocket  ; 
I  groped,  found  a  candle,  and  lighted  it.     It  was 
twenty  minutes  after  three  in  the  morning. 
sard  lay  on  his   back,  snoring   hideously,  his 
overhanging  the   capsized   bench.     1    pullet! 
hauled  at  him,  but  he  was  too  drunk  to  a, 
and  that  he  might  not  freeze  to  dea 
a  pile  of  clothes  out  of  his  cabin    and    co\ 
him  up,  and  put  his  head  on  a  coat. 

My  head  ached  horribly,  but  not  worse  than 
my  heart.  When  I  considered  how  our  orgy 
might  have  ended  in  bloodshed  and  murder,  how  I 
had  insulted  God's  providence  by  drinking  and 
laughing  and  roaring  out  songs  and  dancing  at  a 
time  when  I  most  needed  His  protection,  with 
Death  standing  close  beside  me,  as  I  may  say, 
I  could  have  beaten  my  head  against  the  deck 
in  the  anguish  of  my  contrition  and  shame. 
My  passion  of  sorrow  was  so  extravagant,  indeed, 
that  I  remember  looking  at  the  Frenchman  as 
if  he  was  the  devil  incarnate,  who  had  put 
himself  in  my  way  to  thaw  and  recover,  that  he 
might  tempt  me  on  to  the  loss  of  my  soul.  For- 
tunately these  fancies  did  not  last,  l  was  parched 
m\t  the  water  was  ice,  and  there  was 


ijt  Tu  FROIEN  PIRATI 

no  fire  to  melt  it  with;  so  I  broke  off  some 
chips  and  sucked  them,  and  held  a  lump  to  my 
forehead.  I  went  to  my  cabin  and  got  into  my 
hammock,  but  my  head  was  so  hoi,  and  arhed 
so  furiously,  and  I  was  so  vexed  with  myself  he- 
sides,  that  I  could  not  sleep.  The  schooner  was 
deathly  still ;  there  was  not  apparently  the  faintest 
murmur  of  air  to  awaken  an  echo  in  her ;  nothing 
spoke  but  the  near  and  distant  cracking  of  the 
ice.  It  was  miserable  work  lying  in  the  cabin 
sleepless  and  reproaching  myself,  and  as  my 
burning  head  robbed  the  cold  of  its  formidable- 
ness,  I  resolved  to  go  on  deck  and  take  a  brisk 
turn  or  two. 

The  night  was   wonderfully   fine;    the   velvet 
dusk  so  crowded  with  stars  that  in  parts  it  resem- 
bled great  spaces  of  cloth  of  silver  hovering.     I 
turned  my  eyes  northwards  to  the  stars  low  down 
there  and  thought  of  England  and  the  home  where 
I  was  brought  up  until  the  tears  gathered,  and 
with  them  went  something  of  the  dreadful  burn- 
ing aching  out  of  my  head.     Those  distant,  silent, 
shining  bodies  amazingly  intensified  the  sense  of 
my  loneliness  and  remoteness,  and  yonder  South- 
ern Cross  and  the  luminous  dust  of  the  Magel- 
lanic  clouds  seemed  not  farther  off  than  my  n 
country.     It  is  not  in  language   to   express  the 
savage  naked    beauty,  the  wild    mystery  of   the 
white  still  scene  of  ice,  shining  back  to  the 
with  a  light  that  owed  nothing  to  their  glory ; 
convey  how  the  whole  was  heightened   to  e 
sense  by  the  element  of  fear,  put  into  the  pi< 
b<  »f    the    splitting    ice,   and 


A  MERRY  EVENIWO.  133 

softened  regular  roaring  of  the  breakers  along  the 
coast. 

I  started  with  fresh  shame  and  horror  when  I 
contrasted  this  ghastly  calmness  of  pale  ice  and 
the  brightness  of  the  holy  stars  looking  down 
upon  it,  with  our  swinish  revelry  in  the  cabin,  and 
I  thought  with  loathing  of  the  drunken  ribaldry  of 
the  pirate  and  my  own  tipsy  songs  piercing  the 
ear  of  the  mighty  spirit  of  this  solitude.  The 
exercise  improved  my  spirits ;  I  stepped  the  length 
of  the  little  raised  dtck  briskly,  my  thoughts 
busy.  On  a  sudden  the  ice  split  on  the  starboard 
hand  with  a  noise  louder  than  the  explosion  of  a 
twenty-four  pounder.  The  schooner  swayed  to  a 
level  keel  with  so  sharp  a  rise  that  I  lost  my 
balance  and  staggered.  I  recovered  myself, 
trembling  and  greatly  agitated  by  the  noise  and 
the  movement  coming  together,  without  the  least 
hint  having  been  given  me,  and  grasping  a  back- 
stay, waited,  not  knowing  what  was  to  happen 
next.  Unless  it  be  the  heave  of  an  earthquake,  I 
can  imagine  no  motion  capable  of  giving  one  such 
a  swooning,  nauseating,  terrifying  sensation  as  the 
rending  of  ice  under  a  fixed  ship.  In  a  few 
moments  there  were  several  sharp  cracks,  all  on 
the  starboard  side,  like  a  snapping  of  musketry, 
and  I  felt  the  schooner  very  faintly  heave,  but  this 
might  have  been  a  deception  of  the  senses,  for 
though  I  set  a  star  against  the  masthead  and 
watched  it,  there  was  no  movement.  I  looked 
over  the  side  and  observed  that  the  split  I  had 
noticed  on  the  face  of  the  cliff  had  by  this  new 
rupture  been  extended  transversely  right  across  the 


TME  FiozKw  PIIIATI. 

schooner's  starboard  bow,  the  thither  side  being 
several  feet  higher  than  on  this.  It  was  plain  that 
the  bed  on  which  the  vessel  rested  had  dropped 
so  as*  to  bring  her  upright,  and  I  was  convinced 
by  this  circumstance  alone,  that  if '  I  used  good 
judgment  in  disposing  of  the  powder  the  weight 
of  the  mass  would  complete  its  own  disloca- 
tion. 

I    stepped   a   Kttle  way  forward   to   obtain   a 
clearer  sight  of  the  splits    about   the   schooner, 
and  on  putting  my  head  over,  I  was  inexpressibly 
iismayed  and  confounded    by  the    apparition  of 
a  man  with  his  arms  stretched  out  before    him, 
his  face  upturned,  and  his  posture  that  of  starting 
back   as    though    terrified  at  beholding   me.      I 
had  met  with    several  frights  whilst  I  had  been 
on  this  island,  but  none  worse   than    this,  none 
that    so    completely   paralyzed    me    as   to   very 
nearly  deprive  me  of  the  power  of  breathing.     I 
stared  at  him,  and  he  seemed  to  stare   at   me, 
and  I  know  not  which  of  the  two  was  the  more 
motionless.     The  whiteness   made  a  light  of  its 
own,  and  he  was  perfectly  plain.     I  blinked  and 
puffed,  conceiving  it  might  be  some  illusion  of 
the  wine  I  had  drunk,  and  finding  him  still   there, 
and  acting  as  though  he  warded  me  off  in  terror,' 
as  if  my  showing  myself  unawares  had  led  him  to 
think  me   the  devil — I  say  finding  him  perfectly 
real,  I  was  seized  with  an  agony  of  fear,  and  should 
have  rushed  to  my  cabin  had  my  legs  been  equal 
to  the   task  of   transporting    me   there.       Tfun, 
thought  I,  idiot  that  you  are,  what  think  you,  vou 
fo°1.-   is   it    b  body   of  Trentanove  ?     Sure 


A  MERRY  Evmjnwo.  f  J5 

enough  it  was,  and  putting  my  head  a  little  farther 
over  the  rail,  I  saw  the  figure  of  the  Portuguese 
Barros  lying  close  under  the  bends.  No  doubt  it 
was  the  movement  of  the  ice  that  had  shot  the 
Italian  into  the  life-like  posture,  it  being  incredible 
he  should  have  fallen  so  on  being  tumbled  over- 
board by  the  Frenchman.  But  there  he  was,  resting 
against  a  lump  of  ice,  looking  as  living  in  his 
frozen  posture  as  ever  he  had  showed  in  the 
cabin. 

The  shock  did  my  head  good ;  I  went  below 
and  got  into  r&y  cot,  and  after  tossing  for  half  an 
hour  or  so  fell  asleep.  I  awoke  and  went  to  the 
cook-house,  where  I  found  Tassard  preparing 
the  breakfast,  and  a  great  fire  burning, 
hardly  knew  -what  reception  he  would  give  me, 
and  was  therefore  not  a  little  agreeably  surprised 
by  his  thanking  me  for  covering  him  up. 

"  You  have  a  stronger  head  than  mine,"  said 
he.  "  The  punch  used  you  well.  You  made  me 
laugh,  though.  You  was  very  diverting." 

"Ay,  much  too  diverting  to  please  myself," 
said  I ;  and  I  sounded  him  cautiously  to  remark 
what  his  memory  carried  of  my  insults,  but  found 
that  he  recollected  nothing  more  than  that  I  danced 
with  vigour,  and  sang  wefl. 

I  said  nothing  about  my  contrition,  mjr  going  on 
deck,  and  the  luce,  contenting  myself  with  asking 
if  he  had  heard  the  explosion  in  the  night. 

"  No/'  cried  he,  staring  and  looking  eagerly. 

"  Well,  then,"  said  I,  "  there  has  happened  a 
mighty  crack  in  the  ice,  and  I  do  soberly  believe 
that  with  the  blessing  of  God  we  shall  to  sJbk  by 


THI  FnozBM  PIRATI. 

blasts  of  powder  to  free  the  block  on  which  the 
schooner  rests." 

"  Good  I "  cried  he  ;  "  come,  let  us  hurry  with 
this  meal.  How  is  the  weather  ?" 

"  Quiet,  I  believe.  I  have  not  been  on  deck 
since  the  explosion  aroused  me  early  this  morn- 
ing." 

Whilst  we  ate  he  said,  "  Suppose  we  get  the 
schooner  afloat,  what  do  you  propose  ?  " 

'  Why,"  I  answered,  "  if  she  prove  tight  and 
seaworthy,  what  but  carry  her  home  ?  " 

'  What,  you  and  I  alone  ?  " 

"No,"  said  I,  "certainly  not;  we  must  make 
shift  to  sail  her  to  the  nearest  port,  and  ship  a 


crew." 


He  looked  at  me  attentively,  and  said,  "  What 
do  you  mean  by  home?" 

"  England,"  said  I. 

^  He  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  exclaimed  in 
French,  Tis  natural."  Then  proceeding  in 
English,  *'  Pray/'  said  he,  showing  his  fangs,  "  do 
not  you  know  that  the  Boca  del  Dragon  is  a 
pirate  ?  Do  you  want  to  be  hanged  that  you 
propose  to  carry  her  to  a  port  to  ship  men  ?  " 

"  I  have  no  fear  of  that,"  said  I  ;  "  after  all  these 
;s  she'll   be  as  clean  forgotten  as  if  she  had 
never  had  existence." 

"  Look  ye  here,  Mr.  Rodney/'  cried  he  in  a 
passion,  "  let's  have  no  more  of  this  snivelling 
nonsense  about  years.  You  may  be  as  mad  as 
you  please  on  that  point,  but  it  shan't  hang  me. 
It  needs  more  than  a  few  months  to  make  men 
forget  a  craft  that  has  carried  on  such  traffic  as 


A   MXKKY    EVEMIMO. 

©ur  hold  represents.  You'll  not  find  me  venturing 
myself  nor  the  schooner  into  any  of  your  ports  for 
men.  No,  no,  my  friend.  I  am  in  no  stupor  now, 
you  know ;  and  I've  slept  the  puach  off  also,  d'ye 
see.  What,  betray  our  treasure  and  W  hanged 
for  our  generosity  t " 

He  made  mt  an  ironical  Ww,  grinning  with 
wrath. 

"  Let's  get  the  schooner  afloat  first/'  said  1. 

"Ay,  that's  all  very  well,"  he  cried;  "but 
better  stop  here  than  dangle  in  chains.  No,  my 
friend ;  our  plan  must  be  a  very  different  one  from 
your  proposal.  I  suppose  you  want  your  share 
of  the  booty  ?  "  said  he,  snapping  his  nngers. 

"  I  deserve  it/'  said  I,  smiling,  that  I  might 
soften  his  passion. 

"And  yet  you  would  convey  the  m«st  noted 
pirate  of  the  age,  with  plunder  in  her  to  the  value 
of  thousands  of  doubloons,  to  a  port  in  which  we 
should  doubtless  find  ships  of  war,  a  garrison, 
magistrates,  governors,  pnsons,  and  the  whole  of 
the  machinery  it  is  our  business  to  give  our  stern 
to  !  Ma  /at,  Mr.  Rodney  I  sure  you  are  out  in 
something  more  than  your  reckoning  of  time  ?  " 

"  What  do  you  propose  ?  "  said  I. 

'*  Ha !  "  he  exclaimed,  whilst  his  little  eyes 
twinkled  wkh  cunning,  "  now  you  speak  sensibly. 
What  do  I  propose  ?  This,  my  friend.  We  must 
navigate  the  schooner  to  an  island  and  bury  the 
treasure ;  then  head  for  the  shipping  highways, 
and  obtain  help  from  any  friendly  merchantmen 
we  may  fall  in  with.  Home  with  us  means  the 
Tortuga*.  There  we  shall  find  the  company  w« 


Tmm  Paouv  PXEA 


to  rccorer  for  «s  what  we  ihafl  hare  hidden. 
We  shall  come  br  our  own  then*  But  to  sail  with 
this  treasure  on  board — without  a  crew  to  defend 
the  vessel — by  this  hand!  the  first  cruiser  that 
sighted  us  would  make  a  clean  sweep,  and  then, 
ho,  for  the  hangman,  Mr.  Rodney  1  * 

How  much  I  relished  this  scheme  you  will 
imagine ;  but  to  reason  with  him  would  have 
been  mere  madness.  I  knitted  my  brows  and 
seemed  to  reflect,  and  then  said,  "  Well,  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  plain,  good  sense  in  what  you  say. 
I  certainly  see  the  wisdom  of  your  advice  in  re- 
commending that  we  should  bury  the  treasure. 
Nor  must  we  leave  anything  on  board  to  convict 
the  ship  of  her  true  character." 

His  greedy  eyes  sparkled  with  self-complacency. 
He  tapped  his  forehead  and  cried,  "  Trust  to  this. 
There  is  mind  behind  this  surface.  Your  plan 
for  releasing  the  schooner  is  great ;  mine  for 
preserving  the  treasure  is  great  too.  You  are  the 
sailor,  I  the  strategist ;  by  combining  our  genius, 
we  shall  oppose  an  invulnerable  front  to  adver- 
sity, and  must  end  our  days  as  Princes,  Your 
hand,  Paul ! " 

I  laughed  and  gave  him   my  hand,  which  he 
squeezed  with  many  contortions  of  face  and  figure  ; 
but  though  I  laughed  I  don't  know  that  I  ever  so 
much  disliked  and  distrusted  and  feared   the  old 
leering  rogue  as  at  that  moment. 

II  Come  1  "  cried  I,  jumping  .up,  "  let's  get  about 
our  work/'     And  with  that  I  pulled  open  a  bag  of 
matches,  and  fell  to  testing  them.     They  burnt 
well.     The  fire  ate  into  them  as  smoothly  as  if 


Wi  IXFLODI  THi  MINES.  139 

they  had  been  prepared  the  day  before.  They 
were  all  of  one  thickness.  I  cut  them  to  equal 
lengths,  and  fired  them  and  waited  watch  in  hand  ; 
one  was  burnt  out  two  minutes  before  the  other, 
and  each  length  took  about  ten  minutes  to  con- 
sume. This  was  good  enough  to  base  my  calcu- 
lations upon. 

CHAPTER  XXL 

WE  EXPLODE  THE   MINKS. 

I  DON'T  design  to  weary  you  with  a  close  account 
of  our  proceedings.  How  we  opened  the  main- 
deck  hatch,  rigged  up  tackles,  clapping  purchases 
on  to  the  falls,  as  the  capstan  was  hard  frozen  and 
immovable  ;  how  we  hoisted  the  powder- barrels  on 
deck  and  then,  by  tackles  on  the  foreyard,  lowered 
them  over  the  side ;  how  we  filled  a  number  of 
bags  which  we  found  in  the  forecastle  with  powder; 
how  we  measured  the  cracks  in  the  ice  and  sawed 
a  couple  of  spare  studding-sail  booms  into  lengths 
to  serve  as  beams  whereby  to  poise  the  barrels 
and  bags ;  would  make  but  sailor's  talk,  half  of 
which  would  be  unintelligible  and  the  rest  weari- 
some. 

The  Frenchman  worked  hard,  and  we  snatched 
only  half  an  hour  for  our  dinner.  The  split  that 
had  happened  in  the  ice  during  the  night  showed 
by  daylight  as  a  guif  betwixt  eight  and  ten  feet 
wide  at  the  seawards  end,  thinning  to  a  width  of 
three  feet,  never  less,  to  where  it  ended,  ahead  of 
the  ship,  in  a  hundred  cracks  in  the  ice  that 
howed  as  if  a  thunderbolt  had  fallen  just  there. 


240  THI  F&ozmx  PIRATB. 

I  looked  into  this  rent,  but  it  was  as  black  as  a 
tfell  past  a  certain  depth,  and  there  was  no  gleam 
of  water.  When  we  went  over  the  side  to  roll  our 
first  barrel  of  powder  to  the  spot  where  we  meant 
to  lower  it,  the  Frenchman  marched  up  to  the 
figure  of  Trentanove,  and  with  no  more  reverence 
than  a  boy  would  show  in  throwing  a  stone  at  a 
jackass,  tumbled  him  into  the  chasm.  He  then 
stepped  up  to  the  body  of  the  Portuguese  boat- 
swain, dragged  him  to  the  tame  fissure,  and  rolled 
him  into  it. 

"There!"  critd  h«;  "  »ow  they  mro  properly 
buried." 

And  with  this  he  wont  c^Jy  e«  with  his 
work. 

I  said  nothing,  but  was  secretly  heartily  disgusted 
with  this  brutal  disposal  of  his  miserable  shipmates' 
remains.  However,  it  was  his  doing,  not  mine } 
and  I  confess  the  removal  of  those  silent  witnesses 
was  a  very  great  relief  to  me,  albeit  when  I  con- 
sidered how  Tassard  had  been  awakened,  and  how 
both  the  mate  and  the  boatswain  might  have  been 
brought  to  by  treatment,  I  felt  as  though,  after  a 
manner,  the  Frenchman  had  committed  a  murder 
by  burying  them  so. 

It  blew  a  small  breeze  alLday  from  the  south- 
west, the  weather  keeping  fine,  It  was  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  when  we  started  on  our 
labour,  and  the  sun  had  been  sunk  a  few  minutes 
by  the  time  we  had  rigged  the  last  whip  for  the 
lowering  and  poising  of  the  powder.  This  left  us 
nothing  to  oo  in  the  morning  but  light  th« 
matches,  lower  the  powder  into  position,  aad  then 


Wl    IXPLODK   TUB    MlMW. 

•  the  schooner  and  await  the  if  sue. 
Our  arrangements  comprised,  first,  four  barrels  of 
powder  in  deep  yawns  ahead  of  the  vessel,  directly 
athwart  tht  line  of  her  head ;  second,  two  barrels, 
a  wide  space  between  them,  in  the  great  chasm 
on  the  starboard  side;  third,  about  fifty  very 
heavy  charges  in  bags  and  the  like  for  the  further 
rupturing  of  many  splits  and  crevices  on  the 
larboard  bow  of  the  ship,  where  the  ice  was  most 
compact.  What  should  follow  the  mighty  blast 
no  mortal  being  could  have  foretold.  I  had  no 
fear  of  the  charges  injuring  the  vessel — that  is  to 
say,  I  did  not  fear  that  the  actual  explosion  would 
damage  her:  but  as  the  effect  of  the  bursting  of 
such  a  mass  of  powder  as  we  designed  to  explode 
upon  so  brittle  a  substance  as  ice  was  not  calcu- 
lable, it  was  quite  likely  that  the  vast  discharge, 
instead  of  loosening  and  freeing  the  bed  of  ice, 
might  rend  it  into  blocks,  and  leave  the  schooner 
still  stranded  and  lying  in  some  wild  posture  amid 
the  ruins. 

But  the  powder  was  our  only  trumps  ;  we  had 
but  to  play  it  and  leave  the  rest  to  fortune. 

We  got  our  supper  and  sat  smoking  and  dis- 
cussing our  situation  and  chances.  Tassard  was 
tired,  and  this  and  our  contemplation  of  the  pro- 
babilities of  the  morrow  sobered  his  mind,  and  he 
talked  with  a  certain  gravity.  He  drank  sparely 
and  forbore  the  hideous  recollections  or  inventions 
he  was  used  to  bestow  on  me,  and  indeed  could 
find  nothing  to  talk  about  but  the  explosion  and 
what  it  was  to  do  for  us.  I  was  very  glad  he  did 
not  again  refer  to  his  project  to  bury  the  treasure 


ml  oasry  ta*  scheof»«r  «*  th*  Tsctngas  THt 
aaajamt  irod  hii  blood,  AIM!  it  wu  such  nonsense 
that  ta*  more  miming  of  it  was  nauseous  to  me. 
Ejf  ht-aad-forty  years  nail  passed  since  his  ship 
fell  m  with  this  tee,  and  aet  tentoid  the  treasure 
in  tao  hold  might  have  purchased  for  him  the  sight 
of  so  much  as  a  single  bone  of  the  youngest  of 
those  associates  whom  he  idly  dreamt  of  seeking 
aad  shipptag  and  sailing  in  command  of.  Yet, 
babociU  as  was  his  scheme,  having  regard  to  the 
aaM-century  that  had  eUpied,  I  clearly  witnessed 
ISM  auraace  to  me  that  it  implied.  His  views  were 
!•  W  road  as  plainly  as  if  he  had  delivered  them. 
First  aad  foremost  h«  »eant  that  I  should  help 
hfaa  to  ojj  tho  schoonor  to  ««  island  and  hury  the 
psalo  aad  «oArf  ?  whieli  done  he  would  Uke  the 
irvt  opportunity  to  murder  me.  His  chance  of 
•ostsiywhh  a  ohip  that  would  lend  him  assistance 
Is-  Mmfate  the  schooner  would  be  as  good  if  he 
*  to*  k  her  as  if  I  wore  on  board  too.  There 
ho  sjothkf ,  thon,  re  this  consideration  to 
htm  from  cvning  my  throat  after  we  had 
hunod  tho  treasure  and!  were  got  north.  Two 
mottTii  wovld  imperatively  arge  htm  to  make 
away  with  mo ;  first,  that  1  should  not  be  able  to 
serve  as  a  witaoss  to  his  being  s  pirate,  and  next 
that  ho  aleo*  should  possess  tho  secret  of  the 


Ht  i*ie  hsww  what  was  pasting  m  my  mind 
as  ho  sorroyod  me  through  the  curls  of  smoke 
•ptMting  «p  from  his  death's-head  pipe.  I  talkH 
taoily  aad  oonfidentially,  but  I  saw  in  his  gaze  the 
0704  of  say  sawderer,  and  was  so  sure  of  ais 


EXPLODE   TH*    MnHBL 

tions  that  had  I  shot  him  in  self-defence,  as  he 
^at  there,  I  am  certain  my  conscience  would  have 
acquitted  me  of  his  blood. 

I  passed  two  most  uneasy  hours  in  my  cot 
before  closing  my  eyes.  I  could  think  of  nothing 
but  how  to  secure  myself  against  the  Frenchman's 
treachery.  You  would  suppose  that  my  mind  must 
have  been  engrossed  with  considerations  of  the 
several  possibilities  of  the  morrow ;  but  that  was 
not  so.  My  reflections  ran  wholly  to  the  bald- 
headed  evil-eyed  pirate  whom  in  an  evil  hour  I  had 
thawed  into  being,  and  who  was  like  to  discharge 
the  debt  of  his  own  life  by  taking  mine.  The 
truth  is,  I  had  been  too  hard  at  work  all  day,  too 
full  of  the  business  of  planning,  cutting,  testing, 
and  contriving,  to  find  leisure  to  dwell  upon  what 
he  had  said  at  breakfast,  and  now  that  I  lay 
alone  in  darkness  it  was  the  only  subject  I  could 
settle  my  thoughts  to. 

However,  next  morning  I  found  myself  less 
gloomy,  thanks  to  several  hours  of  solid  sleep. 
I  thought,  what  is  the  good  of  anticipating  ? 
Suppose  the  schooner  is  crushed  by  the  ice  or 
jammed  by  the  explosion  ?  Until  we  are  under 
way,  nay,  until  the  treasure  is  buried,  I  have 
nothing  to  fear,  for  the  rogue  cannot  do  with- 
out me.  And,  reassuring  myself  in  this  fashion, 
I  went  to  the  cook-room  and  lighted  the  fire ; 
my  companion  presently  arrived,  and  we  sat  down 
to  our  morning' meal. 

"  I  dreamt  last  night,"  said  he,  "  that  the  devil 
sat  on  my  breast  and  told  me  that  we  should 
break  clear  of  the  ice  and  come  off  safe  with  the 


144  TH*  FROZEN  Pnum 

treasure — there  is  loyalty  in  the  Fiend.     He  sel- 
dom betrays  his  friends. 

'You  have  a  better  opinion  of  him  than  I," 
said  I  ;  "  and  I  do  not  know  that  you  have 
much  claim  upon  his  loyalty  either,  seeing  that 
you  will  cross  yourself  and  call  upon  the  Madonna 
and  saints  when  the  occasion  arises." 

"  Pooh,  mere  habit,"  cried  he,  sarcastically. 
"  I  have  seen  Barros  praying  to  a  little  wooden 
saint  in  a  gale  of  wind  and  then  knock  its  head 
off  and  throw  it  overboard  because  the  storm 
increased."  And  here  he  fell  to  talking  very  im- 
piously, professing  such  an  outrageous  contempt 
for  every  form  of  religion,  and  affirming  so  ardent 
a  belief  in  the  goodwill  of  Satan  and  the  like,  that 
I  quitted  my  bench  at  last  in  a  passion,  and  told 
him  that  he  must  be  the  devil  himself  to  talk  so, 
and  that  for  my  part  his  sentiments  awoke  in  me 
nothing  but  the  utmost  scorn,  loathing,  and  horror 
of  him. 

His  face  fell,  and  he  looked  at  me  with  the  eye 
of  one  who  takes  measure  of  another  and  does  not 
feel  sure. 

1  Tut !  "  cried  he,  with  a  feigned  peevishness  ; 
"  what  are  my  sentiments  to  you,  or  yours  to  me  ? 
you  may  be  a  Quaker  for  all  I  care.  Come,  fill 
your  pannikin  and  let  us  drink  a  health  to  our  own 
souls ! 

But  though  he  said  this  grinning,  he  shot  a 
savage  look  of  malice  at  me,  and  when  he  put  his 
pannikin  down  his  face  was  very  clouded-  and 
sulky. 

We    finished  our  meal  in  silence,  and  then  I 


WE   EXPLODE   THE    MlMBS.  §45 

rose,  saving,   "  Let  us   now  see  what   the   gun- 

powaer  is  going  to  do  for  us?' 

My  rising  and  saying  this  worked  a  change  in 
him.  He  exclaimed  briskly,  "Ay,  now  for  the 
great  experiment,"  and  made  for  the  companion- 
steps  with  an^air  of  bustle. 

The, wind  as  before  was  in  the  south-west, 
blowing  without  much  weight ;  but  the  sky  was 
overcast  with  great  masses  of  white  clouds  with  a 
tint  of  rainbows  in  their  shoulders  and  skirts,  amid 
which  the  sky  showed  in  a  clear  liquid  blue. 
Those  clouds  seemed  to  promise  wind  and  per- 
haps snow  anon  ;  but  there  was  nothing  to  hinder 
our  operations.  We  got  upon  the  ice,  and  went 
to  work  to  fix  matches  to  the  barrels  and  bags, 
and  to  si  ing.  them  by  the  beams  we  had  contrived 
ready  for  lowering  when  the  matches  were  fired, 
and  this  occupied  us  the  best  part  of  two  hours. 
When  all  was  ready  I  fired  the  first  match,  and  we 
lowered  the  barrel  smartly  to  the  scope  of  line 
we  had  settled  upon  ;  so  with  the  others.  You 
may  reckon  we  worked  with  all  imaginable  wari- 
ness, for  the  stuff  we  handled  was  mighty  deadly, 
and  if  a  barrel  should  fall  and  burst  with  the  match 
alight,  we  might  be  blown  in  an  instant  into  rags, 
ing  impossible  to  tell  how  deep  the  rents  went. 

The  bags  being  lighter  there  was  less  to  fear, 

aod  presently  all  the  barrels  and  bags  with  the 

<  hes  burning  were  poised  in  the   places  and 

hanging  at  the  depth  we  had  fixed  upon,  and  we 

•.   returned  to  the  -he   Frenchman 

breaking  into  a  run  and  tumbling  over  the  rail  in 

hi*  alarm  with  the  dexterity  of  a  monkey 


THI  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

Each  match  was  supposed  to  burn  an  hour,  so 
that  when  the  several  explosions  happened  they 
might  all  occur  as  nearly  as  possible  at  once,  and 
we  had  therefore  a  long  time  to  wait.  The  mar- 
gin may  look  unreasonable  in  the  face  of  our 
despatch,  but  you  will  not  think  it  unnecessary  if 
you  consider  that  our  machinery  might  not  have 
worked  very  smooth,  and  that  meanwhile  all  that 
was  lowered  was  in  the  way  of  exploding.  So 
interminable  a  period  as  now  followed  I  do  believe 
never  before  entered  into  the  experiences  of  a 
man.  The  cold  was  .intense,  and  we  had  to 
move  about ;  but  also  were  we  repeatedly 
coming  to  a  halt  to  look  at  our  watches  and 
cast  our  eyes  over  the  ice.  It  was  like  standing 
under  a  gallows  with  the  noose  around  the  neck 
waiting  for  the  cart  to  move  off.  My  own 
suspense  became  torture  ;  but  I  commanded  my 
face.  The  Frenchman,  on  the  other  hand,  could 
not  control  the  torments  of  his  expectation  and 
fear. 

"  Holy  Virgin  1  "  he  would  cry,  "  suppose  we 
are  blown  up  too  ?  suppose  we  are  engulphed  in 
the  ice  ?  suppose  it  should  be  vomited  up  in  vast 
blocks  which  in  falling  upon  us  must  crush  us  to 
pulp  and  smash  the  decks  in  ?  " 

At  one  moment  he  would  call  himself  an  idiot 
for  not  remaining  on  the  rocks  at  a  distance  and 
watching  the  explosion,  and  even  make  as  if  to 
jump  on  the  vessel,  then  immediately  recoil  from 
the  idea  of  setting  his  foot  upon  a  floor  that 
before  he  could  take  ten  strides  might  split  into 
chasms,  with  hideous  uproar  under  him.  "  At 


Wi  ExrtoDB  THI  Mam.  §47 

another  moment  he  would  run  to  the  companion 

and  descend  out  of  my  sight,  but  reappear  after  a 
minute  or  two  wildly  shaking  his  head  and  swear- 
ing that  if  waiting  was  insupportable  in  the  day- 
light, it  was  ten  thousand  times  worse  in  the  gloom 
and  solitude  of  the  interior. 

I  was  too  nervous  and  expectant  myself  to  be 
affected  by  his  behaviour ;  but  his  dread  of  the 
explosion  upheaving  lumps  of  ice  was  sensible 
enough  to  determine  me  to  post  myself  under  the 
cover  of  the  hatch  and  there  await  the  blast,  for 
it  was  a  stout  cover  and  would  certainly  screen 
me  from  the  lighter  flying  pieces. 

It  was  three  or  four  minutes  past  the  hour  and 
I  was  looking  breathlessly  at  my  watch  when  the 
first  of  the  explosions  took  place.  Before  the  ear 
could  well  receive  the  shock  of  the  blast  the 
whole  of  the  barrels  exploded  along  with  some 
twelve  or  fourteen  parcels.  Tassard,  who  stood 
beside  me,  fell  on  his  face,  and  I  believed  he  had 
been  killed.  It  was  so  hellish  a  thunder  that  I 
suppose  the  blowing  up  of  a  first-rate  could  not 
make  a  more  frightful  roar  of  noise.  A  kind  ot 
twilight  was  caused  by  the  rise  of  the  volumes  of 
white  smoke  out  of  the  ice.  The  schooner  shook 
with  such  a  convulsion  that  I  was  persuaded  she 
had  been  split.  Vast  showers  of  splinters  of  ice 
fell  as  if  from  the  sky,  and  rained  like  arrows 
through  the  smoke,  but  if  there  were  any  great 
blocks  uphove  they  did  not  touch  the  ship. 
Meanwhile,  the  other  parcels  were  exploding  in 
their  places,  sometimes  two  and  three  at  a  time, 
sending  a  sort  of  sickening  spasms  and  throes 


THE  FROZKV  Pnum 

through    the    fabric     of    the    vessel    and    you 

heard  the  most  extraordinary  grinding  noises 
rising  out  of  the  ice  all  about,  as  though  the 
mighty  rupture  of  the  powder  crackled  through 
leagues  of  lhe  island.  I  durst  not  look  forth  till 
all  the  powder  had  burst,  lest  I  should  be  struck 
by  some  flying  piece  of  ice,  but  unless  the  schooner 
was  injured  below  she  was  as  sound  as  before, 
and  in  the  exact  same  posture,  as  if  afloat  in  har- 
bour, only  that  of  course  her  stern  lay  low  with 
the  slope  of  her  bed. 

I  called  to  Tassard  and  he  lifted  his  head. 
"  Are  you  hurt  ?  "  said  I. 
"No,   no,"  he  answered.     "  Ti§  i   Spaniard's 
trick  to  fling  down  to  a  broadside.     Body  of  St. 
Joseph,  what  a  furious  explosion ! "  and  to  saying 
he   crawled    into    the   companion   and   squatted 
beside  me.     "  What  has  it  done  for  us  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  yet,"  s.iid  I  ;  "  but  I  believe  the 
schooner  is  uninjured.  That  was  a  powerful  shock!  " 
I  cried,  as  a  half-dozen  of  bags  blew  up  together 
in  the  crevices  deep  down. 

The  thunder  and  tumult  of  the  rending  ice 
'inpanied  by  the  heavy  explosions  of  the  gun- 
powder so  dulled  the  hearing  that  it  was  difficult 
to  speak.  That  the  mines  had  accomplished  our 
end  was  not  yet  to  be  known  ;  but  there  could  not 
be  the  least  doubt  that  they  had  not  only  occa- 
sioned tremendous  ruptures  low  down  in  the  ice, 
but  that  the  volcanic  iniiuence  was  extending  far 
beyond  its  first  effects  by  making  one  split  pro- 
duce another,  one  weak  part  give  way  and  create 
other  weaknesses,  and  so  on,  all  round  about  u§ 


Wl    EXPLOD1   THE    MlNRS.  249 

and  under  our  keel,  as  was  clearly  to  be  gathered 
by  the  shivering  and  spasms  of  the  schooner, 
and  by  the  growls,  roars,  blasts,  and  huddle  of 
terrifying  sounds  which  arose  from  the  frozen 
floor. 

It  was  twenty  minutes  after  the  hour  at  which 
the  mines  had  been  framed  to  explode  when  the 
last  parcel  burst ;  but  we  waited  another  quarter 
of  an  hour  to  make  §urc  that  it  was  the  last, 
during  all  which  time  the  growling  and  roaring 
noises  deep  down  continued,  as  if  there  was  a 
battle  of  a  thousand  lions  raging  in  the  vaults 
and  hollows  underneath.  The  smoke  had  been 
settled  away  by  the  wind,  and  the  prospect  was 
clear.  We  ran  below  to  see  to  the  fire  and  receive 
five  minutes  of  heat  into  our  chilled  bodies,  and 
then  returned  to  view  the  scene. 

I  looked  first  over  the  starboard  side  and  saw 
the  great  split  that  had  happened  in  the  night 
torn  in  places  into  immense  yawns  and  gulfs  by 
the  fall  of  vast  masses  of  rock  out  of  its  sides ; 
but  what  most  delighted  m«  was  the  hollow  sound 
of  washing  water.  I  lifted  my  hand  and  listened. 
"  Tis  the  swell  of  the  sea  flowing  into  the  open- 
ing 1 "  I  exclaimed. 

"  That  means,"  said  Tassard,  "  that  this  side 
of  the  block  is  dislocated  from  the  main." 

"  Yes,"  cried  I.  "And  if  the  powder  ahead  of 
the  bows  has  done  its  work,  the  heave  ef  the  ocean 
will  do  the  rest." 

We  made  our  way  on  to  the  forecastle  over  a 
deep  bed  of  splinters  of  ice,  lying  like  wood- 
shavings  upoa  the  deck,  and  I  teec  notice  as  I 


•SO  Tut  Fiats*  Faun. 

walked  that  every  glorious  crystal  pendant  that 
had  before  adorned  the  yards,  rigging,  and  spars 
had  been  shaken  off.  I  had  expected  to  see  a 
wonderful  spectacle  of  havoc  in  the  ice  where  the 
barrels  of  gunpowder  had  been  poised,  but  saving 
many  scores  of  cracks  where  none  was  before, 
and  vast  ragged  gashes  in  the  mouths  of  the 
crevices  down  which  the  barrels  had  been  lowered, 
the  scene  was  much  as  heretofore. 

The  Frenchman  stared  and  exclaimed,  "What 
has  the  powder  done?  I  see  only  a  few 
cracks." 

"  What  it  may  have  done,  I  don't  know,"  I 
answered  ;  "  but  depend  on't  such  heavy  charges 
of  powder  must  have  burst  to  some  purpose. 
The  dislocation  will  be  below ;  and  so  much  the 
better,  for  'tis  there  the  ice  must  come  asunder  if 
this  block  is  to  go  free." 

He  gazed  about  him,  and  then  rapping  out  a 
string  of  oaths,  English,  Italian,  and  French,  for 
he  swore  in  all  the  languages  he  spoke,  which,  he 
once  told  me,  were  five,  he  declared  that  for  his 
part  he  considered  the  powder  wasted,  that  we'd 
have  done  as  well  to  fling  a  hand-grenade  into  a 
fissure,  that  a  thousand  barrels  of  powder  would 
be  but  as  a  popgun  for  rending  the  schooner's  bed 
from  the  main,  and  in  short,  with  several  insulting 
looks  and  a  face  black  with  rage  and  disappoint- 
ment, gave  me  very  plainly  to  know  that  I  had  not 
only  played  the  fool  myself,  but  had  made  a  fool  of 
him,  and  that  he  was  heartily  sorry  he  had  ever  given 
himself  any  trouble  to  contrive  the  cursed  mines  or 


Wl   BXIUODB   THE   MlMM.  *$I 

to  assiit  me  in  a  ridiculous  project  that  might  have 
resulted  in  blowing  the  schooner  to  pieces  and  our- 
selves with  it. 

I  glanced  at  him  with  a  sneer,  but  took  no 
further  notice  of  his  insolence.  It  was  not  only 
that  he  was  so  contemptible  in  all  respects,  a  liar; 
a  rogue,  a  thief,  a  poltroon,  hoary  in  twenty  walks 
of  vice,  there  was  something  so  unearthly. about  a 
creature  that  had  been  as  good  as  dead  for  eight- 
and-forty  years,  that  it  was  impossible  anything 
he  said  could  affect  me  as  the  rancorous 
tongue  of  another  man  would.  I  feared  and  hated 
him  because  I  knew  that  in  intent  he  was  already 
my  assassin ;  but  the  mere  insolences  of  so 
incredible  a  creature  could  not  but  find  me  imper- 
turbable. 

And  perhaps  in  the  present  instance  my  own 
disappointment  put  me  into  some  small  posture  of 
sympathy  with  his  passion.  Had  I  been  asked 
before  the  explosions^  happened  what  I  expected, 
I  don't  know  that  I  should  have  found  any  answer 
to  make ;  and  yet,  though  I  could  not  have  ex- 
pressed my  expectations,  which  after  all  were  but 
hopes,  I  was  bitterly  vexed  when  I  looked  over 
the  bows  and  found  in  the  scene  nothing  that 
appeared  answerable  to  the  uncommon  forces  we 
had  employed.  Nevertheless,  I  felt  sure  that  my 
remark  to  the  Frenchman  was  sound.  A  great 
show  of  uphove  rocks  and  fragments  of  ice  might 
have  satisfied  the  eye ;  but  the  real  work  of  the 
mines  was  wanted  below ;  and  since  the  force  of 
the  mighty  explosion  must  needs  expend  itself 


35*  THS  FROZEN 

Somewhere,  it  was  absurd  to  wish  to  sec  its  effects 
in  a  part  where  its  volcanic  agency  would  be  of 
little  or  no  use. 

'There  is  nothing  to  be  seen  by  staring f" 
exclaimed  the  Frenchman  presently,  speaking 
very  sullenly.  "  I  am  hungry  and  freezing,  and 
shall  go  below!"  And  with  that  he  turned 
his  back  and  made  off,  growling  in  his  throat  as  he 
went 

I  got  upon  the  ice  and  stepped  very  carefully 
to  the  starboard  side  and  looked  down  the  vast 
split  there.  The  sea  in  consequence  of  the  slope 
did  not  come  so  far,  but  I  could  hear  the  wash  of 
the  water  very  plain.  It  was  certain  that  the 
valley  in  which  we  lay  was  wholly  disconnected 
from  the  main  ice  on  this  side.  I  passed  to  the 
larboard  quarter,  and  here  too  were  cracks  wide 
and  deep  enough  to  satisfy  me  that  its  hold  was 
weak.  It  was  forward  of  the  bows  where  the 
barrels  had  been  exploded  that  the  ice  was  thickest 
and  had  the  firmest  grasp  ;  but  its  surface  was 
violently  and  heavily  cracked  by  the  explosions, 
and  I  thought  to  myself  if  the  fissures  below  are 
as  numerous,  then  certainly  the  swell  of  the  sea 
ought  to  fetch  the  whole  mass  away.  But  I  was 
now  half  frozen  myself  and  pining  for  warmth. 
It  was  after  one  o'clock.  The  wind  was  piping 
freshly,  and  the  great  heavy  clouds  in  swarms 
drove  stately  across  the  sky. 

"It  may  blow  to-night,  thought  I;  "and  if 
the  wind  hangs  as  it  is,  just  such  a  sea  as  may 
do  our  business  will  be  set  running."  And  th»s 
musing  I  entered  the  ship  and  went  b«Uw. 


A  CHAMQB  COMES  ovwt  nu  PKBNCHMAM  . 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

A  CHANGE  COMES  OVER  THE  FRENCHMAN. 

TASSARD  was  dogged  and  scowling.  Such  was 
his  temper  that  had  I  been  a  small  or  weak  man, 
or  a  person  likely  to  prove  submissive,  he  would 
have  given  a  loose  to  his  foul  tongue  and  maybe 
handled  me  very  roughly.  But  my  demeanour 
was  cold  and  resolved,  and  not  of  a  kind  to  im- 
prove his  courage.  I  levelled  a  deliberate  semi- 
contemptuous  gaze  at  his  own  fiery  stare,  and 
puzzled  him,  too,  I  believe,  a  good  deal  by  my 
cool  reserve.  He  muttered  whilst  we  ate,  drink- 
ing plentifully  of  wine,  and  garnishing  his  draughts 
with  oaths  and  to  spare  ;  and  then,  after  falling 
silent  and  remaining  so  for  the  space  of  twenty 
minutes,  during  which  I  lighted  my  pipe  and  sat 
with  my  feet  close  to  the  furnace,  listening  with 
eager  ears  to  the  sounds  of  the  ice  and  the  dull 
crying  of  the  wind,  he  exclaimed  sulkily,  "Your 
scheme  is  a  failure.  The  schooner  is  fixed. 
What's  to  be  done  now  ?" 

'  I  don't  know  that  my  scheme  is  a  failure," 
said  I.      '  What  did  you  suppose?  that  the  b! 
would  blow  the  ice  with  the  schooner  on  it  in 
the  ocean  clear  of  the  island?     If  the  ice  is 
shaken  as  to  enable  the  swell  to  detach  it,   my 
scheme  will  have  accomplished  all  I  proposed." 

"//7  J  he  cried  scornfully  and  passionately. 
"  f/ml\  not  deliver  us  nor  save  the  treasure.  I 
tell  you  the  schooner  is  fixed  —  as  fixed  as  the 
damned  in  everlasting  fire.  Be  it  so  !  "  he  cried, 


254  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

clenching  his  fist.  "  But  you  must  meddle  n« 
more !  The  Boca  del  Dragon  is  mine — mine, 
d'ye  see,  now  that  they're  all  dead  and  gone  but 
me" — smiting  his  bosom — "and  if  ever  she  is  to 
float,  let  nature  or  the  devil  launch  her :  no  more- 
explosions  with  the  risks  your  failure  has  made 
her  and  me  run ! " 

His  voice  sank  ;  he  looked  at  me  in  silence,  and 
then  with  a  wild  grin  of  anger  he  exclaimed,  "  What 
made  you  awake  me  ?  I  was  at  peace — neithei 
cold,  hungry,  nor  hopeless  !  What  demon  forced 
you  to  bring  me  to  this — to  bring  me  back  to 
thisf" 

"  Mr.  Tassard,"  said  I  coldly,  "  I  don't  ask  youi 
pardon  for  my  experiment ;  I  meant  well,  and  tc 
my  mind  it  'is  no  failure  yet.  But  for  disturbing 
your  repose  I  do  sincerely  beg  your  forgiveness, 
and  solemnly  promise  you,  if  you  will  return  to  the 
state  in  which  I  found  you,  that  I  will  not  repeat 
the  offence." 

He  eyed  me  from  top  to  toe  in  silence,  filled  and 
lighted  his  hideous  pipe,  and  smoked  with  his  back 
turned  upon  me. 

Had  there  .been  another  warm  place  in  the 
schooner  I  should  have  retired  to  it,  and  left  this 
surly  and  scandalous  savage  to  the  enjoyment  of 
his  own  company.  His  temper  rendered  me  ex- 
tremely uneasy.  The  arms-room  was  full  of 
weapons  ;  he  might  draw  a  pistol  upon  me  and 
shoot  me  dead  before  I  should  have  time  to  clench 
my  hand.  Nor  did  I  conceive  him  to  have  his 
right  mind.  His  panic  terrors  and  outbursts 
of  rage  were  such  extremes  of  behaviour  as 


A  CHANGE  COMBS  OVER  ram  FRKMCHMA*.  355 

suggested  some  sort  of  organic  decay  within. 
He  had  been  for  eight-and-forty  years  insensible ; 
in  all  that  time  the  current  of  life  had  been  frozen 
in  him,  not  dried  up  and  extinguished  ;  therefore, 
taking  his  age  to  be  fifty-five  when  the  frost 
seized  him,  he  would  now  be  one  hundred  and 
three  years  old,  having  subsisted  into  this  great 
span  of  time  in  fact,  though  confronting  me  with 
the  aspect  of  an  elderly  man  merely.  Death  ends 
time,  but  this  man  never  had  been  dead,  or  surely 
it  would  not  have  been  in  the  power  of  brandy  and 
chafing  and  fire  to  arouse  him  ;  and  though  all 
the  processes  of  nature  had  been  checked  in  him 
for  near  half  a  century,  yet  he  must  have  been 
throughout  as  much  alive  as  a  sleeping  man,  and 
consequently  *hen  he  awoke  he  arose  with  the 
weight  of  a  hundred  and  three  years  upon  his 
brain,  which  may  suffice  to  account  for  the  pre- 
ternatural peculiarities  of  his  character. 

After  sitting  a  long  while  sullenly  smoking  in 
silence,  he  fetched  his  mattress  and  some  covers, 
lay  down  upon  it,  and  fell  fast  asleep.  I  admired 
and  envied  this  display  of  confidence,  and 
heartily  wished  myself  as  safe  in  his  hands  as  he 
was  in  mine.  The  afternoon  passed.  I  was  on 
deck  a  half-dozen  times,  but  never  witnessed  the 
least  alteration  in  the  ice.  My  spirits  'sank  very 
low.  There  was  bitter  remorseless  defiance  in  the 
white,  fierce  rigid  stare  of  the  ice,  and  I  could  not 
but  believe  with  the  Frenchman  that  all  our  labour 
and  expenditure  of  powder  was  in  rain.  Th<*re 
was  no  more  noticeable  weight  in  the  wind,  but 
the  sea  wai  beginning  to  beat  with  some  strength 


TftB   FftOZBX   PlftATB. 

upon  the  coast,  and  the  schooner  sometimes 
trembled  to  the  vibrations  of  the  blows.  There 
was  also  a  continuous  crackling  noise  coming  up 
out  of  the  ice,  and  just  as  I  came  on  deck  on  my 
third  visit,  a  block  of  ice,  weighing  I  dare  say  a 
couple  of  hundred  tons,  fell  from  the  broken 
shoulder  on  the  starboard  quarter,  and  plunged 
with  a  roar  like  a  thunderclap  into  the  chasm  that 
had  opened  in  the  night. 

I  sat  before  the  furnace  extremely  dejected, 
whilst  the  Frenchman  snored  on  his  mattress.  I 
could  no  longer  flatter  myself  that  the  explosions 
had  made  the  impression  I  had  expected  on  the 
ice,  and  my  mind  was  utterly  at  a  loss.  How  to 
deliver  myself  from  this  horrible  situation  I  could 
aot  imagine.  As  to  the  treasure,  why,  if  the 
chests  had  all  been  filled  with  gold,  they  might 
have  gone  to  the  bottom  there  and  then  for  me, 
•o  utterly  insignificant  did  their  value  seem  as 
against  the  pricelessness  of  liberty  and  the  joy  of 
delirerance.  Had  I  been  alone  I  should  have  had 
a  stouter  heart,  I  dare  say,  for  then  I  should  have 
been  able  to  do  as  I  pleased  ;  but  now  I  was  asso- 
ciated with  a  bloody-minded  rogue  whose  soul  was 
in  the  treasure,  and  who  was  certain  to  oppose 
any  plan  I  might  propose  for  the  construction  of 
a  boat  or  raft  out  of  the  material  that  formed  the 
schooner.  The  sole  ray  of  hope  that  gleamed 
upon  me  broke  out  of  the  belief  that  this  island 
was  going  north,  and  that  when  "we  had  come  to 
the  height  of  the  summer  in  these  seas,  the  wast- 
ing of  the  coast  or  the  dislocation  of  the  northern 
mass  would  release  us. 


A  CHUTGI  COMES  orot  TRB  FKSMCHMA*.  157 

Yet  this  was  but  poor  comfort  too ;  it  threatened 
a  terrible  long  spell  of  waiting,  with  perhaps  dis- 
appointment in  the  end,  and  months  of  enforced 
association  with  a  wretch  with  whom  I  should 
have  to  live  in  fear  of  my  life. 

\Vhen  I  was  getting  supper  Tassard  awoke, 
quitted  his  mattress,  and  came  to  his  bench. 

"  Has  anything  happened  whilst  I  slept?"  said  he. 

"  Nothing,"  I  answered. 

I  The  ice  shows  no  signs  of  giving  ?" 
"  I  see  none/*  said  I. 

II  Well,"  cried  he,  with  a  sarcastic  sneer,  "  hart 
you  any  more  fine  schemes  ?  " 

"  Tis  your  turn  now,"  I  replied.  "  Try  your 
hand.  If  you  fail,  I  promise  you  I  shall  not  be 
disappointed." 

"  But  you  English  sailors,"  said  he,  wagging  his 
head  and  regarding  me  with  a  great  deal  of  wild- 
ness  in  his  eye,  "  speak  of  yourselves  as  the  finest 
seamen  in  the  world.  Justify  the  maritime  reputa- 
tion of  your  nation  by  showing  me  how  we  are  to 
escape  with  the  schooner  from  the  ice." 

"  Mr.  Tassard,"  said  I,  approaching  him  and 
looking  him  full  in  the  face,  "  I  would  advise  you 
to  sweeten  your  temper  and  change  your  tone.  I 
have  borne  myself  very  moderately  towards  you, 
submitted  to  your  insults  with  patience,  and  have 
done  you  some  kindness.  I  am  not  afraid  of  you. 
On  the  contrary,  I  look  uporryou  as  a  swaggering 
bully  and  a  hoary  villain.  Do  you  understand 
me  ?  I  am  a  desperate  man  in  a  desperate  situa- 
tion. But  if  I  don't  fear  death,  depend  upon  it,  I 
don't  fearjw  and  I  take  God  to  witness  that  if 


t5t  THI  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

you  do  not  use  me  with  the  civility  I  hare  a 
to  expect,  I  will  kill  you." 

My  temper  had  given  way  ;  I  meant  every  word 
I  spoke,  and  my  air  and  sincerity  rendered  my 
speech  very  formidable.  I  approached  him  by 
another  stride  ;  he  started  up,  as  I  thought,  to 
seize  me,  but  in  reality  to  recoil,  and  this  he  did 
so  effectually  as  to  tumble  over  his  bench,  and 
down  he  fell,  striking  his  bald  head  so  hard  that 
he  lay  for  several  minutes  motionless. 

I  stood  over  him  till  he  chose  to  sit  erect, 
which  he  presently  did,  rubbing  his  poll  and  look- 
ing at  me  with  an  air  of  mingled  bewilderment  and 
fear. 

"  This  is  scurvy  usage  to  give  a  shipmate  in 
distress,"  said  he.  "  'Od's  life,  man !  I  had 
thought  there  was  some  sense  of  humour  in  you. 
Your  hand,  Mr.  Rodney  ;  I  feel  dazed." 

I  helped  him  to  rise,  and  he  then  sat  down  in  a 
somewhat  rickety  manner,  rubbing  his  eyes.  It 
might  have  been  fancy,  it  might  have  been  the 
illusion  of  the  furnace  light  combined  with  the 
venerable  appearance  his  long  hair  and  naked  pate 
gave  him,  but  methought  in  those  few  minutes 
he  had  grown  to  look  twenty  years  older. 

"  Never  concern  yourself  about  my  humour, 
Mr.  Tassard,"  said  I,  preserving  my  determined 
air  and  coming  close  to  him  again.  "  How  is  it 
to  stand  between  us  ?  I  leave,  the  choice  to  you. 
If  you  will  treat  rne  civilly  you'll  not  find  me  want- 
ing in  every  disposition  to  render  our  miserable 
state  tolerable ;  but  if  you  insult  me,  use  me  in- 
uriously,  and  act  the  pirate  over  me,  who  am  an 


A  CHAMGI  COMES  ovim  ran  FEIMCHUAX.  159 

honest  man,  by  God,  Mr.  Tassard,  I  will  kill 
you." 

He  stooped  away  from  me,  and  raised  Hit  hand 
in  a  posture  as  if  to  fend  me  off,  and  cried  in  a 
whining  manner,  "  I  lost  my  head — this  gunpowder 
business  hath  been  a  hellish  disappointment,  look 
you,  Mr.  Rodney.  Come  !  We  will  drink  a  can 
to  our  future  amity  !  " 

I  answered  coldly  that  I  wanted  no  more  wine 
and  bade  him  beware  of  me,  that  he  had  gone  far 
enough,  that  our  hideous  condition  had  filled  my 
soul  with  desperation  and  misery,  and  that  I  would 
not  have  my  life  on  this  frozen  schooner  made 
more  abominable  than  it  was  by  his  swagger,  lies, 
and  insults,  and  I  added  in  a  loud  voice  and  in  a 
menacing  manner  that  death  had  no  terrors  for  me, 
and  that  I  would  dispatch  him  with  as  little  fear 
as  I  should  meet  my  doom,  whatever  shape  it  took. 

I  marched  on  deck,  not  a  little  astounded  by 
the  cowardice  of  the  old  rascal,  and  very  well 
pleased  with  the  marked  impression  my  bearing 
and  language  had  produced  on  him.  Not  that  I 
supposed  for  a  moment  -that  my  bold  comport- 
'  would  save  me  from  his  knife  or  his  pistol 
i  he  should  think  proper  to  make  away  with 
me.  No.  All  I  reckoned  upon  was  cowing  him 
into  a  civiller  posture  of  mind,  and  checking  his 
aggressions  and  insolence.  As  to  his  murdering 
me,  I  was  very  sure  he  would  not  attempt  such  an 
act  whilst  we  remained  imprisoned.  Loneliness 
would  have  more  horrors  for  him  than  for  me ; 
and  though  my  machinery  of  mines  had  apparently 
failed,  he  was  shrewd  enough,  despite  his  rage  o! 


s6o  Tm  FROZIM  PIRAT& 

disappointment,  to  understand  that  more  was  to 
be  done  by  two  men  than  by  one,  and  that  between 
us  something  might  be  attempted  which  would  be 
impracticable  by  a  simple  pair  of  hands,  and 
particularly  old  hands,  such  as  his. 

I  stayed  but  a  minute  or  two  on  deck.  Such 
was  the  cold  that  I  do  not  know  I  had  ever  felt  it 
more  biting  and  bitter.  The  sound  of  foaming 
waters  filled  the  wind,  and  the  wind  itself  was 
oiowing  fairly  strong,  in  gusts  that  screamed  in 
the  frozen  rigging  or  in  blasts  that  had  the  deep 
echo  of  the  thunder-claps  of  the  splitting  ice. 
The  clouds  were  numerous  and  dark  with  the 
shadow  of  the  night ;  and  the  swiftness  of  their 
motion  as  they  sailed  up  out  of  the  south-west 
quarter  was  illustrated  by  the  leaping  of  the  few 
bright  stars  from  one  dusky  edge  to  another. 

I  returned  below  and  sat  down.  The  French- 
man asked  me  no  questions.  He  had  his  can  in 
the  oven  and  his  death's  head  in  his  great  hand, 
and  puffed  out  clouds  of  smoke  of  the  colour  of 
his  beard,  and  indeed  in  the  candle  and  fire  light 
looked  like  a  figure  of  old  Time  with  his  long  nose 
and  bald  head.  I  addressed  one  or  two  civil  re- 
marks to  him,  which  he  answered  in  a  subdued 
manner,  discovering  no  resentment  whatever  that 
I  could  trace  in  his  eyes  or  the  expression  of  his 
countenance ;  and  being  wishful  to  show  that  I 
bore  no  malice  I  talked  of  pirates  and  their 
usages,  and  asked  him  if  the  Boca  del  Dragon 
fought  under  the  red  or  black  flag. 

"  Why,  the  black  flag,  certainly/'  said  he  ;  "  but 
if  we  met  with  resistance,  it  was  our  custor 


A  CHAMOB  coins  ovn  THI  FKCVCHMAM. 

haul  it  down  and  hoist  the  red  flag,  to  let 
opponents  know  we  should  give  no  quarter." 

1  Where  is  your  flag  locker  ?  "  said  I. 

"In  my  berth,"  he  answered. 

"I  should  like  to  see  the  black  flag,"  I  ex- 
claimed :  "'tis  the  one  piece  of  bunting,  I  believe, 
I  have  never  Yiewed." 

"  I'll  fetch  it,"  said  he,  and  taking  the  lanthorn 
went  aft  very  quietly,  but  with  a  certain  stagger 
in  his  walk,  which  I  should  have  put  down  to  the 
wine  if  it  was  not  that  his  behaviour  was  free  from 
all  symptoms  of  ebriation.  The  change  in  him 
surprised  me,  but  not  so  greatly  as  you  might 
suppose ;  indeed,  it  excited  my  suspicions  rather 
than  my  wonder.  Fear  worked  in  him  unques- 
tionably, but  what  I  seemed  to  see  best  was  some 
malignant  design  which  he  hoped  to  conceal  by 
an  air  of  conciliation  and  a  quality  of  respectful 
bonhomie. 

He  came  back  with  a  flag  in  his  hand,  and  we 
spread  it  between  us  ;  it  was  black,  with  a  yellow 
skull  grinning  in  the  middle,  over  this  an  hourglass, 
and  beneath  a  cross-bones. 

"  What  consternation  has  this  signal  caused  and 
does  still  cause ! "  said  I,  surveying  it,  whilst  a 
hundred  faicies  of  the  barbarous  scenes  it  had 
flown  over,  the  miserable  cries  for  mercy  that  had 
swept  up  past  it  to  the  ear  of  God,  crowded  into 
my  mind.  "  I  think,  Mr.  Tassard,"  said  I,  "  that 
our  first  step,  should  we  ever  find  ourselves  afloat 
in  this  ship,  must  be  to  commit  this  and  all  other 
flags  of  a  like  kind  on  board  to  the  deep.  There  is 
evidence  in  this  piece  of  drapery  to  hang  an  angel" 


Ftoziir 

lie  let  fall  his  ends  of  the  flag  and  sat  down 

suddenly. 

1  Yes,"  he  answered,  sending  a  curious  rolling 
glance  around  the  cook-room  and  at  the  same 
time  bringing  his  hand  to  the  back  of  his  head, 
"  this  is  evidence  to  dangle  even  an  honester  man 
than  ^ou,  sir.  All  flags  but  the  ensign  we  resolve 
to  sail  under  must  go — all  flags,  and  all  the  wear- 
ing apparel,  and— and— but  "—here  he  muttered  a 
curse—  "  we  are  fixed — there  is  to  be  no  sailing." 

He  shook  his  head  and  covered  his  eyes.  His 
manner  wai  strange,  and  the  stranger  for  his 
quietude. 

I  said  to  him,  "  Are  you  ill  ?  " 

He  looked  up  sharply  and  cried  vehemently, 
1  No,  no  1"  then  stretched  his  lips  in  a  very 
ghastly  grin  and  turned  to  take  the  can  from 
the  oven,  but  his  hand  missed  it,  and  he  appeared 
to  grope  as  if  he  were  blind,  though  he  looked  at 
the  can  all  the  time.  Then  he  catched  it  and 
brought  it  to  his  mouth,  but  trembled  so  much 
that  he  spilt  as  much  as  he  drank,  and  after 
putting  the  can  back  sat  shaking  his  beard  and 
stroking  the  wet  off  it,  methought,  in  a  very 
mechanical  lunatic  way. 

1  thought  to  myself,  "  Is  this  behaviour  some 
stratagem  of  his  ?  What  device  can  such  a  bear- 
ing hide  ?  If  he  is  acting,  he  plays  his  part 
well." 

I  rolled  the  black  flag  into  a  bundle  and  flung 
it  into  a  corner,  and,  resuming  my  seat  and  my 
pipe,  continued,  more  for  civility's  sake  than 
because  of  any  particular  interest  I  took  in  the 


A  CHANGE  COMES  OVER  THE  FRENCHMAN.  *6j 

bubjeet,  to  ask  him  questions  about  the  customs 
and  habits  of  pirates. 

"  I  believe, '  said  I,  "  the  buccaneers  are  so 
resolute  in  having  clear  ships  that  they  have 
neither  beds  nor  seats  on  board." 

"  The  English,"  he  answered,  speaking  slowly 
and  letting  his  pipe  droop  whilst  he  spoke  with 
his  eyes  fixed  on  deck,  "  not  the  Spanish.  Tis 
the  custom  of  most  English  pirates  to  eat  and 
sleep  upon  the  decks  for  the  sake  of  a  clear  ship, 
as  you  say.  The  Spaniard  loves  comfort — -you 
may  observe  his  fancy  in  this  ship." 

"  How  is  the  plunder  partitioned  ?"  I  asked. 

"  Everything  is  put  into  the  common  chest,  as 
we  call  it,  and  brought  to  the  mast  and  sold  by 
auction —  Strange ! "  he  cried,  breaking  of!  and 
putting  his  hand  to  his  brow.  "  I  find  my  speech 
difficult  Do  you  notice  I  halt  and  utter 
thickly?" 

I  replied,  No  ;  his  voice  seemed  to  be  the 
same  as  hitherto. 

<(  Yet  I  feel  ill.  Holy  Mother  of  God,  what  is 
this  feeling  coming  upon  me  ?  O  Jesus,  how  faint 
and  dark  ! " 

He  half  rose  from  his  bench,  but  sat  again, 
trembling  as  if  the  palsv  had  seized  him,  and  I 
noticed  his  head  dotted  with  beads  of  sweat.  He 
had  drunk  so  much  wine  and  spirits  throughout 
the  day  that  a  dram  would  have  oeen  of  no  use  to 
him. 

I    said,  "  I  expect  it  will  be  the  blow  on  the 
of  vour  head,  when  you  fell  just  now,  that 
naa  produced  this  teenng  ui  giddiness.     Let  me 


THI  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

kelp  YOU  to  lie  down"  (for  his  mattreis  was  o* 
deck) ;  "  the  sensation  will  pass,  I  don't  doubt." 

If  he  heard  he  did  not  heed  me,  but  fell  a- 
muttering  and  crying  to  himself.  And  now  I  did 
certainly  remark  a  quality  in  his  Toice  that  was 
new  to  my  ear ;  it  was  not,  as  he  had  said,  a 
labour  or  thickness  of  utterance,  but  a  dryness 
and  parchedness  of  old  age,  with  many  breaks 
from  high  to  low  notes,  and  a  lean  noise  of 
dribbling  threading  every  word.  He  sweated 
and  talked  and  muttered,  but  this  was  from  sheer 
terror ;  he  did  not  swoon,  but  sat  with  a  stoop, 
often  pressing  his  brows  and  gazing  about  him 
like  one  whose  senses  are  all  abroad. 

"Gracious   Mother  of   all   angels  I "    he    ex- 
claimed, crossing  himself  several  times,  but  with 
a  feeble,  most  agitated  hand,  and    speaking  in 
French  and  English,  and  sometimes  interjecting 
an  invocation  in  Italian  or  Spanish,  though  I  give 
you  what  he  said  in  my  own  tongue ;  "  surely  I 
am  dying.     O    Lord,  how   frightful   to   die!     O 
holy  Virgin,  be  merciful  to  me.     I  shall  go  to  hell 
-O  Jesu,  I  am  past  forgiveness— for  the  love  of 
heaven,   Mr.    Rodney,  some   brandy  I     Oh    that 
some  saint  would  interpose  for  me  I     Only  a  few 
years  longer— grant   me  a  few  years   longer— I 
beseech  for  time  that  I  mar  repent !  "    and  he 
extended  one  quivering  hand  for  the  brandy  (of 
which  a  draught  stood  melted  in  the  oven)  and 
made  the  sign  of  the  cross  upon  his  breast  with  the 
other,  whilst  he  continued   to  whine  out    in  Kfs 
cracked  pipes  the  wildest  appeals  for  mercy,  sav- 
ing a  vast  deal  that   I  durst  not  venture  to  set 


A  CBAVGB  OOMM  onm  nnt  PKKMCHMAH.  t4j 

down,  so  plentiful  and  awful  were  his  clamours  for 
time  that  he  might  repent,  though  he  never  lapsed 
into  blasphemy,  but  on  the  contrary  discovered 
an  agony  of  religious  horror. 

I  was  much  astonished  and  puzzled  by  this  ill- 
ness that  had  come  upon  him,  for,  though  he 
talked  of  darkness  and  faintness  and  of  dying,  he 
continued  to  sit  up  on  his  bench  and  to  take  pulls 
at  the  can  of  brandy  I  had  handed  to  him.  It 
might  be,  indeed,  that  a  sudden  faintness  had 
terrified  him  nearly  out  of  his  senses  with  a  pro- 
spect of  approaching  death  ;  but  that  would  not 
account  for  the  peculiar  note  and  appearance  of 
age  that  had  entered  his  figure,  face,  and  voice. 
Then  an  extraordinary  fancy  occurred  to  me: 
Had  the  whole  weight  of  the  unhappy  wretch's 
years  suddenly  descended  upon  him  ?  Or,  if  not 
wholly  arrived,  might  not  these  indications  in  him 
mark  the  first  stages  of  a  gradually  increasing 
pressure  ?  The  heat,  the  vivacity,  the  fierceness, 
spirits,  and  temper  of  the  life  I  had  been  instru- 
mental in  restoring  to  him  probably  illustrated 
his  character  as  it  was  eight-and-forty  years  since ; 
that  had  flourished  artificially  from  the  moment 
of  his  awakening  down  to  the  present  hour ;  but 
now  the  hand  of  Time  was  upon  this  man,  whose 
age  was  above  an  hundred.  He  might  be  decay- 
ing and  wasting,  even  as  he  sat  there,  into  such 
an  intellectual  condition  and  physical  aspect  as  he 
would  possess  and  submit  had  he  come  without  a 
break  into  his  present  age. 

I  was  fascinated  by  the  mystery  of  his  vitality, 
and  breathlessly  watched  him  as  if  I  expected  to 


266  THE  FROZEN  PiR.vnu 

witness  some  harlequin  change  in  his  face  and 
mark  the  transformation  of  his  polished  brow  into 
the  lean  austerity  of  wrinkles.  His  voice  sank 
into  a  mere  whisper  at  last,  and  then,  ceasing  to 
speak  altogether,  he  dropped  his  chin  on  to  his 
:n  and  began  to  sway  from  side  to  side, 
hing  himself  from  falling  with  several  para- 
lytic starts,  but  without  lifting  his  head  or  opening 
his  eyes  that  I  could  see,  and  manifesting  every 
symptom  of  extreme  drowsiness. 

I  got  up  and  laid  rny  hand  on  his  shoulder,  oh 
which  he  turned  his  face  and  viewed  me  with  one 
eye  closed,  the  other  scarce  open. 

"  How  are  you  feeling  now  ?  "  said  I. 

"  Sleepy,  very  sleepy,"  he  answered. 

"I'll  put  your  mattress  into  your  hammock," 
said  I,  "and  the  best  thing  you  can  do  is  to  go 
and  turn  in  properly  and  get  a  long  night's  rest, 
and  to-morrow  morning  you'll  feel  yourself  as 
hearty  as  ever." 

He  mumbled  some  answer  which  I  interpreted 
to  signify  "  Very  well  I"  so  I  shouldered  his  mat- 
tress and  slung  a  ianthorn  in  his  cabin,  and  then 
returned  to  help  him  to  bed.  He  sat  reeling  on 
the  bench,  his  chin  on  his  breast,  catching  him- 
self up  as  before  with  little  sharp  terrified 
recoveries,  and  I  was  forced  to  put  my  hand  on 
him  again  to  make  him  understand  I  had  come 
back.  He  then  made  as  if  to  rise,  but  trcin 
so  violently  that  he  sank  down  again  with  a  groan, 
and  1  was  obliged  to  put  my  whole  strength  to  the 
lifting  of  him  to  get  him  on  to  his  legs.  He 
leaned  heavily  upon  me,  breathing  hard,  stooping 


THE  ICE  BREAKS  AWAY.  167 

much  and  trembling.  When  we  got  to  hit 
cabin  I  perceived  that  he  would  never  be  able  to 
climb  into  his  hammock,  nor  had  I  the  power  to 
hoist  a  man  of  his  bulk  so  high.  To  end  the 
perplexity  I  cut  the  hammock  down  and  laid  it  on 
the  deck,  and  covering  him  with  a  heap  of  clothes, 
unslung  the  lanthorn,  wished  him  good-night, 
closed  the  door,  and  returned  to  the  furnace. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   ICK   BREAKS  AWAY. 

IT  was  not  yet  eight  o'clock.  I  was  restless  in 
my  mind,  under  a  great  surprise,  and  was  not 
sleepy.  I  filled  a  pipe,  made  me  a  little  pannikin 
of  punch,  and  sat  down  before  the  fire  to  think. 
If  ever  I  had  suspected  the  accuracy  of  my  con- 
jecture that  the  Frenchman's  sudden  astonishing 
indisposition  was  the  effect  of  his  extreme  age 
coming  upon  him  and  breaking  down  the  artificial 
vitality  with  which  he  had  bristled  into  life  under 
my  hands,  I  must  have  found  fifty  signs  to  set  my 
misgivings  at  rest  in  his  drowsiness,  nodding, 
bowed  form,  weakness,  his  tottering  and  trembling, 
and  other  features  of  his  latest  behaviour.  If  I 
was  right,  then  I  had  reason  to  be  thankful  to 
Almighty  God  for  this  unparalleled  and  most 
happy  dispensation,  for  now  I  should  have  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  old  rogue's  vindictiveness  and 
horrid  greed.  Supposing  him  to  be  no  more  than 
a  hundre  '.  the  infirmities  of  five  score  years  would 
stand  between  him  and  me,  and  protect  me  ai 
effectually  as  his  death.  I  had  nothing  to  dread 


•63  TOT  FROZEH  PTRATB. 

from  a  man  who  could  scarce  stand,  whose  palsied 
hand  could  scarce  clasp  a  knife,  whose  evil  tongue 
could  scarce  articulate  the  terrors  of  his  soul  or 
the  horrors  of  his  recollection. 

The  wonder  of  it  all  was  so  great  it  filled  me 
with  admiration  and  astonishment.  Had  he  been 
dead  and  come  to  life  again,  as  Lazarus,  or  one  of 
those  bodies  which  arose  during  the  time  our  Lord 
hung  upon  the  cross,  then,  questionless,  he  must 
have  picked  up  the  chain  of  his  life  at  the  link 
which  death  had  broken,  and  continued  his 
natural  walk  into  age  and  decay  (though  inter- 
rupted by  a  thousand  years  of  tne  sepulchre)  as 
if  his  life  had  been  without  this  black  hiatus,  and 
he  was  proceeding  steadily  and  humanly  from  the 
cradle.  But  collecting  that  the  vital  spark  could 
never  have  been  extinguished  in  him,  I  understood 
that  time,  which  has  absolute  control  over  life, 
still  knew  him  as  its  prey  during  all  those  forty- 
eight  years  in  which  he  had  lain  frozen ;  that  it 
had  seized  him  now  and  suddenly,  and  pinned 
upon  his  back  the  full  burden  of  his  lustres.  This 
I  say,  I  believed;  but  the  morrow,  of  course, 
would  give  me  further  proof. 

Well,  'twas  a  happy  and  gracious  deliverance 
for  me.  He  could  ao  me  no  hurt ;  the  scythe  had 
sheared  his  talons,  and  all  without  occasioning 
my  conscience  the  least  uneasiness  whatever: 
whereas,  but  for  this  interposition,  I  did  truly  and 
solemnly  believe  that  it  must  have  come  to  my 
kivinjg  had  to  slay  him  that  I  might  preserve  my 
•wn  life. 

Thus  I  sat  for  an  hour  smoking  and  wetting  my 


BREAKS   AWAY.  369 

lips  with  the  punch,  whilst  the  fire  burned  low,  so 
exulting  in  the  thought  of  my  escape  from  the 
treacherous  villain  I  had  recovered  from  the  grave, 
and  in  the  feeling  that  I  might  now  be  able  to  go 
to  rest,  to  move  here  and  there,  to  act  as  I  pleased 
without  being  haunted  and  terrified  by  the  shadow 
of  his  foul  intent,  that  I  hardly  gave  my  mind  for 
a  moment  to  the  situation  of  the  schooner  nor  to 
the  barren  consequences  of  my  fine  scheme  of 
mines. 

The  wind  blew  strong.  I  could  hear  the  hum- 
ming of  it  in  every  fibre  of  the  vessel.  The  bed 
on  which  she  rested  trembled  to  the  blows  of  the 
seas  upon  the  rocks.  From  time  to  time,  in  the 
midst  of  my  musing,  I  started  to'  the  sharp  claps 
of  parted  ice.  Stifl  feeling  sleepless,  I  threw  a 
few  coals  on  the  fire,  and  catching  sight  of  the 
pirate  flag  opened  it  on  the  deck  as  wide  as  the 
space  would  permit,  and  sat  down  to  contemplate 
the  hideous  insignia  embroidered  on  it.  My  mind 
filled  with  a  hundred  fancies  as  my  gaze  went 
from  the  skull  on  the  black  field  to  the  death's- 
head  pipe  that  had  fallen  from  the  grasp  of 
Tassard  and  lay  on  the  deck,  and  I  was  sitting 
lost  in  a  deep  dreamlike  contemplation,  when  I 
was  startled  and  shocked  into  instantaneous 
activity  by  a  blast  of  noise,  louder  than  any 
thunder-clap  that  ever  I  heard,  ringing  and  boom- 
ing through  the  schooner.  This  was  followed  by 
a  second  and  then  a  third,  at  intervals  during 
which  you  might  have  counted  ten,  and  I  became 
:ble  of  a  strange  sickening  motion,  which 
ibout  twenty  or  thirty  moments,  such  as 


2/o  THE  FROZEN  PIRATK. 

might  be  experienced  by  one  swiftly  descending 
in  a  balloon,  or  in  falling  from  a  height  whilst  pent 
up  in  a  coach. 

For  a  little  while  the  schooner  heeled  over  so 
violently  that  the  benches  and  all  things  movable 
in  the  cook-room  slided  as  far  as  they  could  go, 
and  I  heard  a  great  clatter  and  commotion  among 
the  freight  in  the  hold.  She  then  came  upright 
again,  and  simultaneously  with  this  a  vast  mass 
of  water  tumbled  on  to  the  deck  and  washed  over 
my  head,  and  then  fell  another  and  then  another, 
all  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  me  know  that  the 
ice  had  broken  and  slipped  the  schooner  close  to 
the  ocean,  where  she  lay  exposed  to  its  surges, 
but  not  free  of  the  ice,  for  she  did  not  toss  or  roll. 

I  seized  the  lanthorn  and  sprang  to  the  cabin, 
where  I  hung  it  up,  and  mounted  the  companion- 
steps.  But  as  I  put  my  hand  to  the  door  to 
thrust  it  open  a  sea  broke  over  the  side  and  filled 
the  decks,  bubbling  and  thundering  past  the  com- 
panion-hatch in  such  a  way  as  to  advise  me  that 
I  need  but  open  the  door  to  drown  the  cabin.  I 
waited,  my  heart  beating  very  hard,  mad  to  see 
what  had  happened,  but  not  daring  to  trust  my- 
self on  deck  lest  I  should  be  immediately  swept 
into  the  sea.  Twas  the  most  terrible  time  I  had 
yet  lived  through  in  this  experience.  To  every 
blow  of  the  billows  the  schooner  trembled  fear- 
fully ;  the  crackling  noises  of  the  ice  was  as 
though  I  was  in  the  thick  of  a  heavy  action.  The 
full  weight  of  the  wind  seemed  to  be  upon  the 
ship,  and  the  screeching  of  it  in  the  iron-like 
shrouds  pierced  to  my  ear  through  the  hissing 


THB  ICE  BREAKS  AWAY.  171 

tearing  sounds  of  the  water  washing  along  the 
decks,  and  the  volcanic  notes  of  the  surges  break- 
ing over  the  vessel.  I  say,  to  hear  all  this  and 
not  to  be  able  to  see,  to  be  ignorant  of  the  situa- 
tion of  the  schooner,  not  to  know  from  one  second 
to  another  whether  she  would  not  be  crushed  up 
and  crumbled  into  staves,  or  be  hurled  off  her  bed 
and  be  pounded  to  fragments  upon  the  ice  rocks 
by  the  seas,  or  be  dashed  by  the  cannonading  of 
the  surge  into  the  water  and  turned  bottom  up, 
made  this  time  out  and  away  more  terrible  than 
the  collision  between  the  Laughing  Mary  and  the 
iceberg. 

I  drew  my  breath  with  difficulty,  and  stood 
upon  the  companion-ladder  hearkening  with 
straining  ears,  my  hand  upon  the  door.  I  was 
now  sensible  of  a  long-drawn,  stately,  solemn  kind 
of  heaving  motion  in  the  schooner,  which  I  put 
down  to  the  rolling  of  the  ice  on  which  she  rested  ; 
and  this  convinced  me  that  the  mass  in  whose 
hollow  she  had  been  fixed  had  broken  away  and 
was  afloat  and  riding  upon  the  swell  that  under- 
ran  the  billows.  But  I  was  far  too  much  alarmed 
to  feel  anv  of  those  transports  in  which  I  must 
have  indulged  had  this  issue  to  my  scheme  hap- 
pened in  daylight  and  in  smooth  water.  I  was 
terrified  by  the  apprehensions  which  had  occurred 
to  me  even  whilst  I  was  at  work  on  the  mines;  I 
mean,  that  if  the  bed  broke  away  the  schooner 
would  make  it  top-heavy  and  that  it  would  cap- 
size ;  and  thus  I  stood  in  a  v«ry  agony  of 
expectancy,  caged  like  a  rat,  and  at  helpless  as 
the  dead. 


THF.  FROZEN  PIUATI. 

Hatf  an  hour  must  have  passed,  during  which 
time  the  decks  were  incessantly  swept  by  the 
seas,  insomuch  that  I  never  once  durst  open  the 
door  even  to  look  out.  But  nothing  having 
happened  to  increase  my  consternation  in  this 
half-hour,  though  the  movement  in  the  schooner 
was  that  of  a  very  ponderous  and  majestical 
rolling  and  heaving,  showing  her  bed  to  be  afloat, 
I  began  to  find  my  spirits  and  to  listen  and  wait 
with  some  buddings  of  hope  and  confidence.  At 
the  expiration  of  this  time  the  seas  began  to  fall 
less  heavily  and  regularly  on  to  the  deck,  and  pre- 
sently I  could  only  hear  them  breaking  forward, 
but  without  a  quarter  their  former  weight,  and 
nothing  worse  came  aft  than  large  brisk  showers 
of  spray. 

I  armed  myself  with  additional  clothing  for  the 
encounter  of  the  wet,  cold,  and  wind,  and  then 
pushed  open  the  door  and  stepped  forth.  The 
sky  was  dark  with  rolling  clouds,  but  the  ice  put 
its  own  light  into  the  air,  and  I  could  see  as  plain 
as  if  the  first  of  the  dawn  had  broken.  It  was  as 
I  had  supposed  :  the  mass  of  the  valley  in  which 
the  schooner  had  been  sepulchred  for  eight-and- 
forty  years  had  come  away  from  the  main,  and 
lay  floating  within  a  cable's  length  of  the 
coast.  A  stranger,  wonderfuller  picture  human 
eye  never  beheld.  The  island  shore  ran  a  ram- 
part of  faintness  along  the  darkness  to  where  it 
died  out  in  liquid  dusk  to  right  and  left,  The 
schooner  sat  upon  a  bed  of  ice  that  showed  a 
surface  of  about  half  an  acre ;  her  stern  was  close 
to  the  sea,  and  about  six  feet  above  it  On  her 


TWI    Id   BUAKS   AWAY.  §7$ 

Iari>oard  quarter  the  dope  or  shoulder  of  the  ac- 
clivity had  been  broken  by  the  rupture,  and  you 
looked  over  the  side  into  the  clear  sea  beyond  the 
limit  of  the  ice  there ;  but  abreast  of  the  fore- 
shrouds  the  ice  rose  in  a  kind  of  wall,  a  great 
splinter  it  looked  of  what  was  before  a  nail 
broad-browed  hill,  and  the  wind  or  the  sea  having 
caused  the  body  on  which  the  schooner  lay  to 
veer,  this  wall  stood  as  a  shield  betwixt  the  vessel 
and  the  surges,  and  was  now  receiving  those 
blows  which  had  heretofore  struck  her  starboard 
side  amidships  and  filled  her  decks. 

Oh  for  a  wizard's  inkhorn,  tha£  I  might  make 
you  see  the  picture  as  I  view  it  now,  even  with 
the  eye  of  memory !  The  posture  of  the  little 
berg  pointed  the  schooner's  head  seawards,  about 
west ;  the  ice-terraces  of  the  island  lay  with  the 
wild  strange  gleam  of  their  own  snow  radiance 
upon  them  upon  the  larboard  quarter;  around 
the  schooner  was  the  whiteness  of  her  frozen  seat, 
and  her  outline  was  an  inky,  exquisitely  defined 

nfiguration  upon  it ;  above  the  crystal  wall  on  the 
Urboard  bow  rose  the  spume  of  the  breaking  surge 

pallid  bodies,  glancing  for  an  instant,  and  some- 
times shaking  a  thunder  into  the  ship  when  a 
portion  of  the  seething  water  was  flung  by  the 
wind  upon  the  forecastle  deck ;  at  moments  a 
1  uger  sea  than  usual  overran  the  ice  on  the  lar- 
board beam  and  quarter,  and  boiled  up  round 
about  the  buttocks  of  the  schooner.  To  leeward 
the  smooth  backs  of  the  billows  rolled  away  in 
jet,  but  the  fitful  throbbings  and  feeble  flashings 
of  froth  commingled  with  the  dim  shine  of  tk*  iec 


974  THE  FROZE*  PIRAT** 

were  over  all,  tincturing  the  darkness  with  i 
spectral  sheen,  giving  to  everything  a  quality  of 
unearthliness  that  was  sharpened  yet  by  the 
sounds  of  the  wind  in  the  gloom  on  high  and 
the  hissing  and  foaming  of  waters  sending  their 
leagues-distant  voices  to  the  ear  upon  the  wings 
of  the  icy  blast. 

The  wind,  as  I  have  said,  blew  from  the  south- 
west, but  the  trend  of  the  island-coast  was  north- 
east, and  as  the  mass  of  ice  I  was  upon  in  parting 
from  the  main  had  floated  to  a  cable's  length  from 
the  cliffs,  there  was  not  much  danger,  whilst  the 
wind  and  sea  held,  of  the  berg  (if  I  may  so  term 
it)  being  thrown  upon  the  island.  That  the  ice 
under  the  schooner  was  moving,  and  if  so,  at 
what  rate,  it  was  too  dark  to  enable  me  to  know 
by  observing  the  marks  on  the  coast.  There 
was  to  be  no  sleep  for  me  that  night,  and 
knowing  this,  I  stepped  below  and  built  up  a 
good  fire,  and  then  went  with  the  lanthorn  to 
see  how  Tassard  did  and  to  give  him  the  news ; 
but  he  was  in  so  deep  a  sleep,  that  after  pulling 
him  a  little  without  awakening  him  I  let  him 
lie,  nothing  but  the  sound  of  his  breathing  per- 
suading me  that  he  had  not  lapsed  into  his  old 
frozen  state  again. 

Of  all  long  nights  this  was  the  longest   I 
passed    through.     I    did    truly  believe    that 
day  was  never  to    break    again  over  the  oc 
I   must    have    gone    from  the  fire    to    the 
thirty  or   forty  times.     The   schooner    conti 
upright.  oversetting ; 

sat  v  showed    but    a 


THE  ICE  BREAKS  AWAY.  175 

small  head  iter,  and  as    the    body 

of  it  lay  pretty  flat,  then,  even  supposing  its 
submerged  bulk  was  small,  there  was  little 
chance  of  its  capsizing.  I  also  noticed  that 
we  were  setting  seawards — that  is  to  say,  to 
the  westward — by  a  noticeable  shrinking  of  the 
pallid  coast.  But  I  never  could  stay  long 
enough  above  to  observe  with  any  kind  of 
narrowness,  the  wind  being  full  of  the  wet  that 
was  flung  over  the  ice-wall  and  the  cold  un- 
endurable. 

All-  night  I  kept  the  fire  going,  and  on  several 
occasions  visited  the  Frenchman,  but  found  him 
motionless  in  sleep.  I  kept  too  good  a  look- 
out to  apprehend  any  sudden  calamity  short  of 
capsizal,  which  I  no  longer  feared,  and  during 
the  watches  of  that  long  night  I  dreamt  a 
hundred  waking  dreams  of  my  deliverance,  of 
my  share  of  the  treasure,  of  my  arriving  in 
England,  quitting  the  sea  for  ever,  and  setting 
up  as  a  great  squire,  marrying  a  nobleman's 
daughter,  driving  in  a  fine  coach,  and  ending 
with  a  seat  in  Parliament  and  a  stout  well- 
sounding  handle  to  my  name. 

At  last  the  day  broke;  I  went  on  deck  and 
found  the  dawn  brightening  into  morning.  The 
wind  had  fallen  and  with  it  the  sea;  but  there 
still  ran  a  middling  strong  surge,  and  the  breeze 
was  such  asf  in  sailors'  language,  you  would  have 
shown  your  top-gallant  sails  to.  I  could  now 
take  measure  of  our  situation,  and  was  not  a  little 
astonished  and  delighted  to  observe  the  island  to 
b«  at  kait  a  mile  distant  from  us,  and  the  north- 


THE  FROZEN 

•ait  «n4  lying  very  plain,  the  ocean  showing  be- 
yond it,  though  in  the  south-west  the  ice  died  out 
upon  the  sea-line.  That  we  had  been  set  away 
from  the  main  by  some  current  was  very  certain. 
There  was  a  westerly  tendency  in  all  the  b 
which  broke  from  the  island,  the  small 
moving  more  quickly  than  the  large,  for  the 
sea  in  the  north  and  west  was  dotted  with  at  least 
fifty  of  these  white  masses,  great  and  little.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  wind  and  seas  were  answer- 
able for  the  progress  we  had  made  to  the  north. 

The  wall  of  ice  (as  I  call  it)  that  had  stood  over 
against  the  larboard  bow  was  gone,  and  the  seas 
tumbled  with  some  heaviness  of  froth  and  much 
noise  over  the  ice,  past  the  bows,  and  washed 
past  the  bends  on  eltner  side  in  froth  rising  as  high 
as  the  channels.  I  noticed  a  great  quantity  of 
broken  ice  sinking  and  rising  in  the  dark  green 
curls  of  the  billows,  and  big  blocks  would  be 
hurled  on  to  the  schooner's  bed  and  then  be  swept 
off,  sometimes  fetching  the  bilge  such  a  thump  as 
seemed  to  swing  a  bellow  through  her  frame.  It 
was  only  at  intervals,  however,  that  water  fell  upon 
the  decks,  for  the  ice  broke  the  beat  of  the 
moderating  surge  and  forced  it  to  expend  its 
weight  in  spume,  which  there  was  not  strength  of 
wind  enough  to  raise  and  heave.  Since  the  vessel 
continued  to  lie  head  to  sea,  my  passionate  hope 
was  that  these  repeated  washings  of  the  waves 
would  in  time  loosen  the  ice  about  her  keel,  in 
which  case  it  would  not  need  much  of  a  bi; 
smiting  her  full  bows  fair,  to  slide  her  clean  c 
and  off  her  bed  and  so  launch  her.  The 


THB  ICE  BREAKS  AWAY. 

many  clouds  in  the  heavens,  but  the  blue  was  very 

pure  between.  The  morning  brightening  with  the 
rising  of  the  sun,  I  directed  an  earnest  gaze  along 
the  horizon,  but  there  was  nothing  to  see  but  ice. 
Som'e  of  the  bergs,  however,  and  more  particularly 
the  distant  ones,  stole  out  of  the  blue  atmo- 
sphere to  the  sunshine  with  so  complete  a  resem- 
blance to  the  lifting  canvas  of  ships  that  I  would 
catch  myself  staring  fixedly,  my  heart  beating 
fast.  But  there  was  no  dejection  in  these  dis- 
appointments ;  the  ecstasy  that  filled  me  on 
beholding  the  terrible  island,  the  hideous  frozen 
prison  whose  crystal  bars  I  had  again  and  again 
believed  were  never  to  be  broken,  now  lying  at  a 
distance  with  its  northern  cape  imperceptibly 
opening  to  our  subtle  movement,  was  so  violent 
that  I  could  not  have  found  my  voice  for  the  tears 
in  my  heart. 

This,  then,  was  the  result  of  my  scheme ;  it  was 
no  failure,  as  Tassard  had  said ;  as  he  owed  his 
life  to  me,  so  now  did  he  owe  me  his  liberty. 
Nay,  my  transports  were  so  great  that  I  would  not 
suffer  myself  to  feel  an  instant's  anxiety  touching 
the  condition  of  the  schooner — I  mean  whether 
she  would  leak  or  prove  sound  when  she  floated 
— and  how  we  two  men  were  to  manage  to  navi- 
gate so  large  a  craft,  that  was  still  as  much 
spellbound  aloft  in  her  frozen  canvas  and  tackle 
as  ever  she  had  been  in  the  sepulchre  in  which  I 
discovered  her. 

I  went  below,  and  put  the  provisions  we  needed 
for  breakfast  into  the  oven,  and  entered  Tassard's 
cabin.  On  bringing  the  lanthorn  to  his  face  as  he 


THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

lay  under  half  a  score  of  coats  upon  the  deck,  1 
perceived  that  he  was  awake,  and,  my  heart  being 
full,  I  cried  out  cheerily,  "  Good  news  !  good  news  ! 
the  gunpowder  did  its  work  !  The  ice  is  ruptured 
and  we  are  afloat,  Mr.  Tassard,  afloat — and  pro- 
gressing north  I " 

He  looked  at  me  vacantly,  and  giving  his  head 
a  shake  exclaimed,  "  How  can  I  crawl  from  this 
mound  ?  My  strength  is  gone." 

If  I  was  amazed  that  the  joyful  intelligence  I 
had  delivered  produced  no  other  response  than 
this  querulous  inquiry,  I  was  far  more  astonished 
by  the  sound  of  his  voice.  It  was  the  most 
cracked  and  venerable  pipe  that  ever  tickled  the 
throat  of  old  age,  a  mingling  of  wailing  falsettos 
and  of  hollow  gasping  growls,  the  whole  very 
weak.  I  threw  the  clothes  off  him,  and  said,  "  Do 
you  wish  to  rise  ?  I  will  bring  your  breakfast  here 
if  you  wish." 

He  looked  at  me,  but  made  no  answer.  I 
bawled  again,  and  observed  (by  the  dim  lanthorn 
light)  that  he  watched  my  lips  with  an  air  of 
attention  ;  and  whilst  I  waited  for  his  reply  he 
said,  "  I  don't  hear  you." 

Anxious  to  ascertain  to  what  extent  his  hear- 
ing was  impaired,  I  kneeled  on  the  deck,  and 
putting  my  lips  to  his  ear  said,  not  very  loud, 
'  Will  you  come  to  the  cook-house  ?  "  which  he  did 
nol  hear;  and  then  louder,  "Will  you  come  to  the 
cook-house?"  which  he  did  not  hear  either.  I 
believed  him  stone-deaf  till,  on  roaring  with  all 
the  power  of  my  lungs,  he  answered  "  Y< 

I  took  him  by  the  hands  arid  hauled  him  gently 


Tiff    ?HE    BREAKS    AWAY* 

on  to  his  feet,  and  had  to  continue  holding  him  or 
he  must  have  fallen.  Time  was  beginning  with 
him  when  he  had  gone  to  bed,  and  the  remorseless 
old  soldier  had  completely  finished  his  work  whilst 
his  victim  slept.  I  viewed  the  Frenchman  whilst 
I  grasped  his  hands,  and  there  stood  before  me  a 
shrunk,  tottering,  deaf,  bowed,  feeble  old  man. 
What  was  yesterday  a  polished  head  was  now  a 
shrivelled  pate,  as  though  the  very  skull  had 
shrunk  and  left  the  skin  to  ripple  into  wrinkles 
and  sit  loose  and  puckered.  His  hands  trembled 
excessively.  But  his  lower  jaw  was  held  in  its 
place  by  his  teeth,  and  this  perpetuated  in  the 
aged  dwindled  countenace  something  of  the  like- 
ness o.  the  fierce  and  sinister  visage  that  had 
confronted  me  yesterday.  I  was  thunderstruck 
by  the  alteration,  and  stood  overwhelmed  with 
awe,  confusion,  and  alarm.  Then,  re-collecting 
my  spirits,  I  supported  the  miserable  relic  to  the 
fire,  putting  his  bench  to  the  dresser  that  he  might 
Have  a  back  to  lean  against. 

He  could  scarce  feed  himself — indeed,  he  could 
hardly  hold  his  chin  off  his  breast.  He  had  gone 
to  bed  a  man,  as  I  might  take  it,  of  fifty-six,  and 
during  the  night  the  angel  of  Time  had  visited 
him,  and  there  he  sat,  a  hundred  and  three 
years  of  age  I 

He  looked  it.  Ha,  thought  I,  I  was  dreading 
your  treachery  yesterday ;  there  is  nothing  more 
to  fear.  Besides  that  he  was  nearly  stone  deaf, 
he  could  hardly  see  ;  and  I  was  sure,  if  he  should 
be  able  to  move  at  all,  he  could  not  stir  a  leg  with- 
out the  help  of  sticks.  1  was  going  to  roar  out  to 


2&o  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

him  that  we  were  adrift,  but  he  looked  so  imbecile 
that  I  thought,  to  what  purpose  ?  If  there  be 
aught  of  memory  in  him,  let  him  sit  and  chew  the 
cud  thereof.  He  cannot  last  long  ;  the  cold  must 
soon  stop  his  heart.  And  with  that  I  went  on 
eating  my  breakfast  in  silence,  but  greatly  affected 
by  this  astonishing  mark  of  the  hand  of  Provi- 
dence, and  under  a  very  heavy  and  constant  sense 
of  awe,  for  the  like  of  such  a  transformation  I  am 
sure  had  never  before  encountered  mortal  eyes, 
and  it  was  terrifying  to  be  alone  with  it. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   FRENCHMAN    DIBS. 

HOWEVER,  if  I  expected  my  Frenchman  to  sit 
very  long  silent,  he  toon  undeceived  me  by  begin- 
ning to  complain  in  his  tremulous  aged  voice  of 
his  weakness  and  aching  limbs. 

"Tis  the  terrible  cold  that  has  affected  me," 
said  he,  whilst  his  head  nodded  nervously.  "  I  feel 
the  rheumatism  in  every  bone.  There  is  no  weak- 
ness like  the  rheumatic,  I  have  heard,  and  'tis 
true,  'tis  true.  It  may  lay  me  along— yes,  by  the 
Virgin,  'tis  rheumatism — what  else?"  Mere  he 
was  interrupted  by  a  long  fit  of  coughing,  and 
when  it  was  ended  he  turned  to  address  me  l\. 
but  looked  at  the  bulkhead  on  my  right,  as  if  his 
vision  could  not  fix  me.  "  But  my  capers  are  not 
over !  "  he  cried,  setting  up  his  rickety  shrill 
throat ;  "  no,  no  I  Vive  1'amour !  vive  la  joie  ! 
The  sun  i^  coming — the  sun  is  the  fountain  of  life 
—ay,  mon  brave,  there  are  some  shakes  in  these 


THE  FRENCHMAW  DIES.  281 

stout  legs  yet !  "  He  shook  his  head  with  a  fine 
air  of  cunning  and  knowingness,  grinning  very 
oddly ;  and  then,  falling  grave  with  a  startling 
suddenness,  he  began  to  dribble  out  a  piratical 
love-story  he  had  once  before  favoured  me  with, 
describing  the  charms  of  the  woman  with  a 
horrid  leer,  his  head  nodding  with  the  nervous 
affection  of  age  all  the  time,  whilst  he  looked 
blindly  in  my  direction — a  hideous  and  yet  pitiful 
object ! 

I  could  not  say  that  his  mind  was  gone,  but  he 
talked  with  many  breaks  for  breath,  and  not  very 
coherently,  as  though  the  office  of  his  tongue  was 
performed  by  habit  rather  than  memory,  so  that 
he  often  went  far  astray  and  babbled  into  sen- 
tences that  had  no  reference  to  what  had  gone 
before,  though  on  the  whole  I  managed  to  collect 
what  he  meant.  I  was  sure  he  had  not  power 
enough  of  vision  to  observe  me  in  the  dim  reddish 
light  of  the  cook-room,  and  this  being  so,  he 
could  not  know  I  was  present,  more  particularly 
as  he  could  not  hear  me,  yet  he  persisted  in  his 
poor  babble,  which  was  a  behaviour  in  him  that, 
more  than  even  the  matter  of  his  speech,  per- 
suaded me  of  his  imbecility. 

He  made  no  reference  to  our  situation,  and  in 
solemn  truth  I  believe  his  memory  retained  no  more 
than  a  few  odds  and  ends  of  the  evil  story  of  his 
life,  like  bits  of  tarnished  lace  and  a  rusty  button 
or  two  lying  in  the  bottom  of  a  dark  chest  that 
has  long  been  emptied  of  the  clothes  it  once 
held. 

But  my  condition  made  such  heavy  demands 


*••  THB  FROZE*  PnumL 

upon  my  thoughts  that  I  had  very  much  its.-  ttten- 
tion  to  give  to  this  surprising  phenomenon  of 
senility  than  its  uncommon  merits  deserved.  It 
has  puzzled  every  member  of  the  faculty  that  I 
have  mentioned  it  to,  the  supposition  being  that, 
given  the  case  of  suspended  animation,  there  is 
no  waste,  and  the  person  would  quit  his  stupor 
with  the  same  powers  and  aspect  as  he  possessed 
when  he  entered  it,  though  it  lasted  a  thousand 
years.  But  granting  there  is  no  waste,  Time  is 
always  present  waiting  to  settle  accounts  when 
the  sleeper  lifts  his  head.  There  may  be  an  arti- 
ficial interval,  during  which  the  victim  might 
show  as  my  pirate  did,  but  the  poised  load  of 
years  is  severed  on  a  sudden  by  the  scythe  and 
becomes  superincumbent,  and  with  the  weight 
comes  the  transformation ;  and  this  theory,  as 
the  only  eye-witness  of  the  marvellous  thing,  I  will 
hold  and  maintain  whilst  I  have  breath  in  my 
body  to  support  it. 

I  left  him  gabbling  to  himself,  sometimes  grin- 
ning as  if  greatly  diverted,  sometimes  lifting  a 
trembling  hand  to  help  his  ghostly  recital  by  an 
equally  ghostly  dumb-show,  and  went  on  deck, 
satisfied  that  he  was  too  weak  to  get  to  the  fire 
and  meddle  with  it,  but  sufficiently  invigorated 
by  his  long  night's  rest  to  sit  up  without  tumbling 
Dff  the  bench. 

This  time  I  carried  with  me  an  old  perspec- 
tive glass  I  had  noticed  in  the  chest  in  my  cabin 
— the  chest  in  which  were  the  nautical  instru- 
ments, charts,  and  papers — and  levelled  it  along 
oast  of  the  island,  but  it  was  a  poor  glass, 


THE  FRENCHMAN  DIM.  183 

and  I  found  I  could  manage  nearly  as  well  with 
the  naked  eye.  There  was  no  change  of  any 
kind,  only  that  there  was  a  sensible  diminution  in 
the  blowing  of  the  wind  and  a  corresponding 
decrease  in  the  height  of  the  seas.  The  ice 
stretched  in  a  considerable  bed  on  either  hand 
the  ship  and  ahead  of  her ;  the  water  frothed 
freely  over  it,  and  there  was  a  great  jangling  and 
flashing  of  broken  pieces,  but  the  hull  was  no 
longer  heavily  hit  by  them. 

I  got  into  the  main  chains  to  view  the  body  of 
the  vessel,  and  noticed  with  satisfaction  that  the 
constant  pouring  of  the  sea  had  thinned  down  the 
frozen  snow  to  the  depth  of  at  least  a  foot.  This 
encouraged  me  to  hope  that  the  restless  tides 
would  sap  to  her  keel  at  least,  and  put  her  into  a 
posture  to  be  easily  launched  by  the  blow  of  a 
surge  upon  her  bows — that  is  if  fortune  con- 
tinued to  keep  her  head  on.  But  by  this  time 
my  transports  having  moderated,  I  was  growr 
fully  sensible  of  the  extreme  peril  of  our  position. 
Should  the  sea  rise  and  the  ice  bring  her  broad- 
side to  it,  it  was  inevitable,  it  seemed  to  me,  that 
she  must  go  to  pieces.  Or  if  the  ice  on  which 
she  floated,  fouled  some  other  berg  it  might  cost 
us  all  our  spars.  Then  again  occurred  the  dismal 
question,  Suppose  she  should  launch  herself, 
would  she  float  ?  For  eight-and-forty  years  she 
had  been  high  and  dry  ;  never  a  caulker's  hammer 
had  rung  upon  her  in  all  that  time.  Tassard  had 
spoken  of  her  as  a  stout  ship,  and  so  she  was,  I 
did  not  doubt ;  but  the  old  rogue  talked  as  if 
she  had  been  stranded  six  mi  I  had 


284  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

no  other  hope  than  that    the  intense  cold    had 

treated  her  timbers  as  it  had  treated  the  bodies  of 
her  people,  an  expectation  not  unreasonable  when 
I  considered  the  state  of  her  stores  and  the  mani- 
fest substantiality  of  her  inward  fabric. 

I  regained  the  deck  and  stepped  over  to  the 
pumps.  There  were  two  of  them,  but  built  up  in 
snow.  My  business  was  to  save  my  life  if  I 
could,  and  the  schooner  too,  for  the  sake  of  the 
great  treasure  in  her.  Nothing  must  disco; 
me  I  said  to  myself — I  must  spare  no  labour,  but 
act  a  hearty  sailor's  part  and  ask  for  God's  coun- 
tenance. So  I  trotted  below,  and  selecting  some 
weapons  from  the  arms-room,  such  as  a  toma- 
hawk, a  spade-headed  spear,  a  pike  and  a 
chopper,  I  returned  to  the  pumps  and  fell  upon 
them  with  a  will.  The  ice  flew  about  me,  but  I 
continued  to  smite,  the  exercise  making  me  hot 
and  renewing  my  spirits,  and  in  an  hour— but  it 
took  me  an  hour — I  had  chopped,  hacked,  and 
beaten  one  of  the  pumps  pretty  clear  of  its  thick 
crystal  coat.  They  were  what  is  called  brake- 
pumps — that  is  to  say,  pumps  which  are  worked 
by  handles.  The  ice,  of  course,  held  them  im- 
movable, but  they  looked  to  be  perfectly  sound, 
in  good  working  order,  though  there  would  be 
neither  chance  nor  need  to  test  them  until  the 
schooner  went  afloat. 

I  cleared  the  other  one  and  was  well  satisfied 
with  my  morning's  work.  But  I  did  bitterly 
lament  the  lack  of  a  little  crew.  Even  the 
Frenchmaa  s*  he  was  yesterday  would  have 
my  turn,  for  between  us  we  might  hare 


THE  FRENCHMAN  DIM.  985 

made  shift  to  clamber  aloft,  and  with  hatchets 
break  the  saiU  free  of  their  ice  bonds,  and  so 
expose  canvas  enough  to  hold  the  wind,  which 
could  not  have  failed  to  impart  a  swifter  motion 
to  the  berg.  But  with  my  single  pair  of  hands  I 
could  only  look  up  idly  at  the  yards  and  gaffs 
standing  hard  as  granite.  Still,  even  such  sur- 
face as  the  spars  and  rigging  offered  to  the 
breeze  helped  our  progress.  We  were  but  a  very 
little  berg,  nay,  not  a  berg,  but  rather  a  sheet  of 
ice  lying  indifferently  flat  upon  the  sea,  and,  as  I 
believe,  without  much  depth.  Our  spars  and 
gear  were  as  if  the  ice  itself  were  rigged  as  a  ship, 
and  then  there  was  the  height  of  the  hull  besides 
to  offer  to  the  breeze  a  tolerable  resistance  for  its 
offices  of  propulsion.  In  this  way  I  explain  our 
progress ;  but  whatever  the  cause,  certain  it  was 
that  our  bed  of  ice  was  fairly  under  weigh,  and  at 
noon  the  island  of  ice  bore  at  least  half  a  league 
distant  from  us,  and  we  had  opened  the  sea 
broadly  past  its  northern  cape. 

I  have  often  diverted  myself  with  wondering 
what  sort  of  impression  the  posture  of  our 
schooner  would  have  made  on  the  minds  of 
sailors  sighting  us  from  their  deck.  We  looked 
to  be  floating  out  of  water,  and  mariners  who 
regard  the  devil  as  a  conjuror  must  have  accepted 
us  as  one  of  his  pet  inventions. 

The  many  icebergs  which  encumbered  the  sea 
filled  me  with  anxiety.  We  were  travelling  faster 
than  they,  and  it  seemed  impossible  that  we  could 
miss  striking  one  or  another  of  them.  Yet 
perilous  as  they  were,  1  could  not  but  admire 


THE  FROZEN  PIRATB, 

their  beautiful .  appearance  as  they  floated  upon 
the  dark  blue  of  the  running  waters,  flashing  out 
very  gloriously  to  the  sun  with  a  sparkling  of 
tints  upon  their  whiteness  as  if  fires  of  twenty 
different  colours  had  been  kindled  upon  their 
craggy  steeps,  and  then  fading  into  a  sulky 
watcnet  to  the  dull  violet  shadowing  of  the  passing 
clouds.  I  particularly  marked  a  very  brilliant 
scene  on  the  opening  of  five  or  six  of  them  to 
the  sunshine.  They  lay  in  such  wise  that  the 
shadow  of  the  cloud  covered  them  all  as  with  a 
veil,  the  skirts  of  which,  trailing,  left  them  to  leap 
one  after  the  other  into  the  noontide  dazzle ;  and 
as  each  one  shot  from  the  shadow  the  flash  was 
like  a  volcanic  spouting  of  white  flame  enriched 
with  the  prismatic  dyes  of  emeralds,  rubies,  sap- 
phires, and  gems  of  lovely  hue. 

To  determine  the  hour  and  our  position  I 
fetched  a  quadrant  from  my  cabin,  and  was 
happily  just  in  time  to  catch  the  sun  crossing  the 
meridian.  My  watch  was  half  an  hour  fast,  so  I 
had  been  out  of  my  reckoning  to  the  extent  of 
thirty  minutes  ever  since  I  hacTbeen  cast  away. 
I  made  our  latitude  to  be  sixty-four  degrees 
twenty-eight  minutes  south,  and  the  computation 
was  perhaps  near  enough. 

This  business  ended,  I  went  to  the  cook-house 
to  prepare  dinner,  and  the  first  object  I  saw  was 
Tassard  flat  upon  his  face  near  the  door  that 
opened  into  the  cabin.  He  groaned  when  I 
picked  him  up,  which  I  managed  without  much 
exertion  of  strength,  for  so  much  had  he 
shrunk  that  I  dart  say  more  than  half  his  weight 


TKB  FUEVCHMAV  DOOL 

lar  in  his  clothes ;  and  set  him  upon  his  bench 
with  his  .back  to  the  dresser.  I  put  my  mouth  to 
his  ear  and  roared,  "  Are  you  hurt  ?  M  His  head 
nodded  as  if  he  understood  me,  but  I  question  if 
he  did.  He  was  the  completest  picture  of  old 
age  that  you  could  imagine.  I  fetched  a  couple 
of  spears  from  the  arms-room,  and,  cutting  them 
to  his  height,  put  one  in  each  hand  that  he  might 
keep  himself  propped ;  and  whilst  my  own  dinner 
was  broiling  I  made  him  a  mess  of  broth  with 
which  I  fed  him,  for  now  that  he  had  the  sticks 
he  would  not  let  go  of  them.  But  in  any  case  I 
doubt  if  his  trembling  hand  could  have  lifted  the 
spoon  to  his  lips  without  capsizing  the  contents 
down  his  beard. 

With  some  small  idea  of  rallying  the  old  villain, 
I  mixed  him  a  very  stiff  bumper  of  brandy,  which 
he  supped  down  out  of  my  hand  with  the  utmost 
avidity.  The  draught  soon  worked  in  him,  and 
he  began  to  move  his  head  about,  seeking  me 
in  his  blind  way,  and  then  cried  in  his  broken 
notes,  "  I  have  lost  the  use  of  my  legs  and  cannot 
walk.  Mother  of  God,  what  shall  I  do  1  O  holy 
St.  Antonio,  what  is  to  become  of  me?" 

I  guessed  from  this  that,  impelled  by  habit  or 
some  small  spur  of  reason,  he  had  risen  to  go  on 
deck  and  fallen.  He  went  on  vapouring  pitifully, 
gazing  with  sufficient  steadfastness  to  let  me 
understand  that  his  vision  received  something  of 
my  outline,  though  he  would  fix  his  eyes  either 
to  left  or  right  of  me,  as  though  he  was  not  able 
to  see  if  he  looked  straight;  and  this  and  his 
mournful  cackle  and  his  nodding  head,  bowed 


288  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

form,  propped  hands,  and  diminished  face  made 
him  as  distressful  and  melancholy  a  picture  of  Time 
as  ever  mortal  man  viewed.  He  broke  off  in  his 
rambling  to  ask  for  more  brandy,  taking  it  for 
granted  that  I  was  still  in  the  cook-room,  for  I 
never  spoke,  and  I  filled  a  can  for  him  and  as 
before  held  it  to  his  mouth,  which  he  opened  wide, 
a  piece  of  behaviour  which  went  to  show  that 
some  of  his  wits  still  hung  loose  upon  him.  This 
was  a  strong  dose,  and  co-operating  with  the 
other,  soon  seized  hold  on  his  head,  and  presently 
he  began  to  laugh  to  himself  and  talk,  and  even 
broke  into  a  stave  or  two — some  French  song 
which  he  delivered  in  a  voice  like  the  squeaking 
of  a  rat  alternating  with  the  growling  of  a  terrier. 

I  guess  his  stumbling  upon  this  old  French 
catch  (which  I  took  it  to  be  from  seeing  him 
feebly  flourish  one  of  his  sticks  as  if  inviting  a 
chorus)  put  him  upon  speaking  his  own  tongue 
altogether,  for  though  he  continued  to  chatter 
with  all  the  volubility  his  breath  would  permit 
during  the  whole  time  I  sat  eating,  not  one 
word  of  English  did  he  speak,  and  not  one  word 
therefore  did  I  understand.  Seeing  how  it  must 
be  with  him  presently,  I  brought  his  mattress 
and  rugs  from  his  cabin,  and  had  scarce  laid 
them  down  when  he  let  fall  one  of  his  sticks  and 
drooped  over.  I  grasped  him,  and  partly  lifting, 
partly  hauling,  got  him  on  his  back  and  covered 
him  up.  In  a  few  minutes  he  was  asleep. 

I  trust  I  shall  not  be  deemed  inhuman  if  I  con- 
fess that  I  heartily  wished  his  end  would  come. 
If  he  went  on  living  he  promised  to  be  an  intoler- 


THl    FUENCHMAM    DIM.  S$9 

able  burden  to  me,  being  quite  helpless.  Besides, 
he  was  much  too  old  for  this  world,  in  which  a 
man  who  reaches  the  age  of  ninety  is  pointed  to 
as  a  sort  of  wonder. 

As  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  on  deck,  I 
filled  my  pipe  and  made  myself  comfortable  before 
the  furnace,  and  was  speedily  sunk  in  meditation. 
I  reviewed  all  the  circumstances  of  my  case  and 
considered  my  chances,  and  the  nimble  heels  of 
imagination  carrying  me  home  with  this  schooner, 
I  asked  myself,  suppose  I  should  have  the  good 
fortune  to  convey  the  treasure  in  safety  to 
England,  how  was  I  to  secure  it  ?  Let  me  imagine 
myself  arrived  in  the  Thames.  The  whole  world 
stares  at  the  strange  antique  craft  sailing  up  the 
river ;  she  would  be  boarded  and  rummaged  by 
the  customs  people,  who  of  course  would  light 
upon  the  treasure.  What  then  ?  I  knew  nothing 
of  the  law ;  but  I  reckoned,  since  I  should  have 
to  tell  the  truth,  that  the  money,  ore,  and  jewellery 
would  be  claimed  as  stolen  property,  and  I  dis- 
missed with  a  small  reward  for  bringing  it  home. 
There  was  folly  in  such  contemplation  at  such  a 
time,  when  perhaps  at  this  hour  to-morrow  the 
i.-hests  might  be  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and 
myself  a  drowned  sailor  floating  three  hundrc  1 
fathoms  deep.  But  man  is  a  froward  child,  who 
builds  mansions  out  of  dreams,  and,  jockeyed 
by  hope,  sets  out  at  a  gallop  along  the  visionary 
road  to  his  desires  ;  and  my  mind  was  so  much 
taken  up  with  considering  how  I  should  manage 
when  I  brought  the  treasure  home,  that  I  spent 
a  couple  of  hours  in  a  conflict  of  schemes, 


§90 

during  which  time  it  never  once  occurred  to  m« 
to  reflect  that  I  was  a  good  way  from  home  still, 
and  that  much  must  happen  before  I  need  give 
myself  the  least  concern  as  to  the  securing  of  the 
treasure. 

Nothing  worth  recording  happened  that  day. 
The  wind  slackened,  and  the  ice  travelled  so  slow 
that  at  sundown  I  could  not  discover  that  we  had 
made  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  progress  to 
the  north  since  noon,  though  we  had  settled  by 
half  as  much  again  that  distance  westwards. 
Whilst  I  \vas  below  I  could  hear  the  ice  crackling 
pretty  briskly  round  about  the  ship,  which  gave 
me  some  comfort ;  but  I  could  never  see  any 
change  of  consequence  when  I  looked  over  the 
side  or  bows,  only  that  at  about  four  o'clock, 
whilst  I  was  taking  a  view  from  the  forecastle, 
a  large  block  broke  away  from  beyond  the  star- 
board bow  with  the  report  of  a  swivel  gun. 

I  had  not  closed  my  eyes  on  the  previous 
night,  and  was  tired  out  when  the  evening 
arrived,  and,  as  no  good  could  come  of  my  keep- 
ing a  watch,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  was  not 
in  my  power  to  avert  anything  that  might  happen, 
I  tumbled  some  further  covering  over  the  French- 
man, who  had  lain  on  the  deck  all  the  afternoon, 
sometimes  dozing,  sometimes  waking  and  talking 
to  himself,  and  appearing  on  the  whole  very  easy 
and  comfortable,  and  went  to  my  cabin. 

I  slept  sound  the  whole  night  through,  and  on 
waking  went  on  deck  before  going  to  the  cook- 
house and  lighting  the  furnace  (as  was  my  cus- 
tom), so  impatient  was  I  to  observe  our  state  and 


Tra  FucvcncAV  MM.  §91 


to  hear  tuck  news  as  the  ocean  had  for  me.  It 
was  a  very  curious  day,  somewhat  darksome, 
and  a  dead  calm,  with  a  large  long  swell  out 
of  the  south-east.  The  sky  was  full  of  clouds, 
with  a  stooping  appearance  in  the  hang  of 
them  that  reminded  you  of  the  belly  of  a  ham- 
mock; they  were  of  a  sallow  brown,  very  un- 
common ;  some  of  them  round  about  sipped  the 
sea-line,  and  their  shadows,  obliterating  those 
parts  of  the  cincture  which  they  overhung,  broke 
the  continuity  of  the  horizon  as  though  there  were 
valleys  in  the  ocean  there.  A  good  part  of  our 
bed  of  ice  was  gone,  at  least  a  fourth  of  it ;  but 
the  schooner  still  lay  as  strongly  fixed  as  before.  I 
had  come  to  the  deck  half  expecting  to  find  her 
afloat  from  the  regular  manner  of  her  heaving,  and 
was  bitterly  disappointed  to  discover  her  rooted 
as  strongly  as  ever  in  the  ice,  though  the  irritation 
softened  when  I  noticed  how  the  bed  had 
diminished.  The  mass  with  the  ship  upon  it  rose 
and  sank  with  the  sluggish  squatting  motion  of  a 
water-logged  vessel.  It  was  an  odd  sensation  to 
my  legs  after  their  long  rest  from  such  exercise. 
The  heaving  satisfied  me  that  the  base  of  the  bed 
did  not  go  deep,  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  all 
too  solid  for  me,  I  could  not  doubt,  for  had  the 
sheet  been  as  thin  as  I  had  hoped  it,  it  must  have 
given  under  the  weight  of  the  schooner  and  re- 
leased her. 

The  island  lay  a  league  distant  on  the  larboard 
beam,  and  looked  a  wondrous  vast  field  of  ice 
going  into  the  south,  and  it  stared  very  ghastly 
ipon  the  dark  green  sea  out  of  the  clouds  whose 


29*  THE  FROZEN  PHUT*. 

gloom  sank  behind  it.  I  could  not  observe  that 
we  had  drifted  anything  to  the  north,  whilst  our 
set  to  the  westwards  had  been  steady  though 
snail-like.  The  sea  in  the  north  and  north-west 
swarmed  with  bergs,  like  great  snowdrops  on  the 
green  undulating  fields  of  the  deep.  Now  and 
again  the  swell,  in  which  fragments  of  ice  floated 
with  the  gleam  of  crystal  in  liquid  glass,  would  bo 
too  quick  for  our  dull  rise  and  overflow  the  bed, 
brimming  to  the  channels  with  much  noise  of 
foam  and  pouring  waters,  but  the  interposition  of 
the  ice  took  half  its  weight  out  of  it,  and  it  never 
did  more  than  send  a  tremble  through  the 
vessel. 

What  to  make  of  the  weather  I  knew  not, 
Certainly,  of~all  the  caprices  of  this  huge  cold  sea, 
its  calms  are  the  shortest  lived,  but  this  knowledge 
helped  me  to  no  other.  The  clouds  did  not  stir. 
In  the  north-east  a  beam  of  sunshine  stood  like  a 
golden  waterspout,  its  foot  in  a  little  flood  of  glory. 
It  stayed  all  the  while  I  was  on  deck,  showing 
that  the  clouds  had  scarce  any  motion,  and  made 
the  picture  of  the  sea  that  way  beyond  nature  to 
my  sight,  by  the  contrast  of  the  defined  shaft  of 
gold,  burning  purely,  with  the  dusk  of  the  clouds 
all  about,  and  of  the  pool  of  dazzle  at  its  foot 
with  the  ugly  green  of  the  water  that  melted 
into  it. 

I  went  oelow  and  got  about  lighting  the  fire. 
The  Frenchman  lay  very  quiet,  under  as  many 
clothes  as  would  fill  a  half-dozen  of  sacks.  It 
was  bitterly  cold,  sharper  in  the  cook-house  than 
I  had  ever  remembered  it,  and  I  co;: 


THS  FRENCHMAN  one*.  »93 

reive  why  this  should  be,  until  I  recollected  that 
I  had  forgotten  to  close  the  companion-hatch 
before  going  to  bed.  I  prepared  some  broth  for 
my  companion,  and  dressed  some  ham  for  myself, 
and  ate  my  breakfast,  supposing  he  would  mean- 
while awake.  But  after  sitting  some  time  and 
observing  that  he  did  not  stir,  a  suspicion  flashed 
into  my  mind  ;  I  kneeled  down,  and  clearing  his 
face,  listened.  He  did  not  breathe.  I  brought 
the  lanthorn  to  him,  but  his  countenance  had 
been  so  changed  by  his  unparalleled  emergence 
from  a  state  of  middle  life  into  extreme  old  age, 
he  was  so  puckered,  hollowed,  gaunt,  his  features 
so  distorted  by  the  great  weight  of  his  years  that  I 
was  not  to  know  him  dead  by  merely  viewing  him. 
I  threw  the  clothes  off  him,  listened  at  his  mouth 
breathlessly,  felt  his  hands,  which  were  ice-cold. 
Dead  indeed !  thought  I.  Great  Father,  'tis  Thy 
will !  And  I  rose  very  slowly  and  stood  surveying 
the  silent  figure  with  an  emotion  that  owed  its 
inspiration  partly  to  the  several  miracles  of  vitality 
I  had  beheld  in  him  during  our  association,  and 
to  a  bitter  feeling  of  loneliness  that  swelled  up 
in  me. 

Yes  !  I  had  feared  and  detested  this  man,  but 
his  quick  transformation  and  silent  dark  exit 
affected  me,  and  I  looked  down  u'pon  him  sadly. 
Yet,  to  be  perfectly  candid  with  you,  I  recollect 
that,  though  it  occurred  to  me  to  test  if  life  was 
out  of  him  by  bringing  him  close  to  the  fire  and 
chafing  him  and  giving  him  brandy,  I  would  not 
stir.  No,  I  would  not  have  moved  a  finger  to 
recover  htm,  even  though  I  should  have  been 


t*4  TIM  FROZEN  PIRATM. 

able  to  do  so  by  merely  putting  him  to  the  furnace. 
He  was  dead,  and  there  was  an  end;  and  without 
further  ado  I  carried  him  into  the  forecastle  and 
threw  a  hammock  over  him,  and  left  him  to  lie 
there  till  there  should  come  clear  water  to  the  ship 
to  serve  him  for  a  grave. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

THB   SCHOONER    FREES   HERSELF. 

ALL  day  long  the  weather  remained  sullen  and 
still,  and  the  swell  powerful.  I  was  on  deck  at 
noon,  looking  at  an  iceberg  half  a  league  distant 
when  it  overset.  It  was  a  small  berg,  though 
large  compared  with  most  of  the  others  ;  yet  such 
a  mighty  volume  of  foam  boiled  up  as  gave  me  a 
startling  idea  of  the  prodigious  weight  o?  the  mass. 
The  sight  made  me  very  anxious  about  my  own 
state,  and  to  satisfy  my  mind  I  got  upon  the  ice 
and  walked  round  the  vessel,  and  to  get  a  true 
view  of  her  posture  went  to  the  extreme  end  of  the 
rocks  beyond  her  bows,  and  finally  came  to  the 
conclusion  that,  supposing  the  ice  should  crumble 
away  from  her  sides  so  as  to  cause  the  weight  of 
the  schooner  to  render  it  top-heavy,  her  buoyancy 
on  touching  the  water  would  certainly  tear  her 
keel  out  of  its  frosty  setting  and  leave  her  floating. 
I  ndeed,  so  sure  was  I  of  this  that  I  saw,  next  to 
the  ice  splitting  and  freeing  her  in  that  way,  the 
best  thing  that  could  happen  would  be  its  capsizal. 
I  regained  the  ship,  and  had  paused  an  instant 
to  look  over  the  side,  when  I  perceived  the  very 
block  of  ice  on  which  I  had  come  to  a  halt  break 


Tn  SCHOONER  FREES  HERSELF.         295 

from  the  bed  with  a  smart  clap  of  noise,  and 
completely  roll  over.  Only  a  minute  before  had  I 
been  standing  on  it,  and  thus  had  sixty  seconds 
stood  between  me  and  death,  for  most  certainly 
must  I  have  been  drowned  or  killed  by  being 
beaten  against  the  ice  by  the  swell !  I  fell  upon 
my  knees  and  lifted  up  my  hands  in  gratitude  to 
God,  feeling  extraordinarily  comforted  by  this 
further  mark  of  His  care  of  me,  and  very  strongly 
persuaded  that  He  designed  I  should  come  off 
with  my  life  after  all,  since  His  providence  would 
not  work  so  many  miracles  for  my  preservation  if 
I  was  to  perish  by  this  adventure. 

These  thoughts  did  more  for  my  spirits  than  I 
can  well  express ;  and  the  intolerable  sense  of 
loneliness  was  mitigated  by  the  knowledge  that  I 
was  watched,  and  therefore  not  alone. 

The  day  passed  I  know  not  how.  The  shadow 
as  of  tempest  hung  in  the  air,  but  never  a  cats- 
paw  did  I  see  to  blurr  the  rolling  mirror  of  the 
ocean.  The  hidden  sun  sank  out  of  the  breathless 
sky,  tingeing  the  atmosphere  with  a  faint  hectic, 
which  quickly  yielded  to  the  deepest  shade  of 
blackness.  The  mysterious  desperate  silence, 
however,  that  on  deck  weighed  oppressively  on 
every  sense,  as  something  false,  menacing,  and 
malignant  in  these  seas,  was  qualified  below  by  the 
peculiar  straining  noises  in  the  schooner's  hold 
caused  by  the  swinging  of  the  ice  upon  the 
swell.  1  was  very  uneasy  ;  I  dreaded  a  gale.  It 
was  impossible  but  that  the  vessel  must  quickly 
go  to  pieces  in  a  heavy  sea  upon  the  ice  if  she 
did  not  liberate  herself.  But  though  this  excited 


196  THI  FROZKM  PIKATB. 

a  depression  melancholy  enough,  nothing  else 
that  I  can  recollect  contributed  to  it.  When  I 
reviewed  the  apprehension  the  Frenchman  had 
raised,  and  reflected  how  unsupportable  a  burden 
he  must  have  become,  I  was  very  well  satisfied 
to  be  alone.  Time  had  fortified  me ;  I  had 
passed  through  experiences  so  surprising,  en- 
countered wonders  so  preternatural,  that  super- 
stition lav  asleep  in  my  soul,  and  I  found  nothing 
to  occasion  in  me  the  feast  uneasiness  in  thinking 
of  the  lifeless  shrivelled  figure  of  what  was  just 
now  a  fierce,  cowardly,  untamed  villain,  lying  in  the 
forecastle. 

I  made  a  good  supper,  built  up  a  large  fire,  and 
mixed  myselT  a  hearty  bowl  of  punch,  not  with 
the  view  of  drowning  my  anxieties — God  forbid  ! 
I  was  too  grateful  for  the  past,  too  expectant  of 
the  future,  to  be  capable  of  so  brutish  a  folly — 
but  that  I  might  keep  myself  in  a  cheerful  pos- 
ture of  mind  ;  and  being  sick  of  my  own  company 
took  the  lanthorn  to  the  cabin  lately  used  by  the 
Frenchman,  and  found  in  a  chest  there,  among 
sundry  articles  of  attire,  a  little  parcel  of  books, 
some  in  Dutch  and  Portuguese,  and  one  in  English. 

It  was  a  little  old  volume,  the  author's  name 
not  given,  and  proved  to   be  a  relation   of   the 
writer's   being  taken .  by  pirates,  and  the  many 
dangers  he  underwent.     There  was  nothing  in  it, 
to  be  sure,  that  answered  to  my  own  case,  yet  it 
interested  me  mightily  as  an  honest  unvami^ 
narrative  of  sea  perils;  and  I  see  myself  no 
fancy  reading  it,  the  lanthorn  hanging  byalanurd 
close  beside  my  head, the  book  in  one  hand,  my 


THB  SCHOONER  FREES  HERSKLF*          197 

in  the  other,  the  furnace  roaring  pleasantly,  my 
feet  close  to  it,  and  the  atmosphere  of  the  oven 
fragrant  with  the  punch  that  I  put  there  to  prevent 
it  from  freezing.  I  had  come  to  a  certain  page  and 
was  reading  this  passage :  l<  Soon  after  we  were  on 
hoard  we  all  went  into  the  great  cabin,  where  we 
found  nothing  but  destruction.  Two  scrutores  1 
had  there  were  broke  to  pieces ,  and  all  the  fine  goods 
and  necessaries  in  them  were  all  gone.  Moreover, 
two  large  chests  that  had  books  in  them  were  empty, 
and  I  was  afterwards  informed  they  had  been  all 
thrown  overboard  ;  for  one  of  tke pirates  on  opening 
them  swore  then  was  jaw-work  enough  (as  he 
called  if)  to  serve  a  nation,  and  proposed  that  they 
might  be  cast  into  the  sea,  for  he  feared  there  might 
be  some  books  amongst  them  that  might  breed  mis- 
chief enough,  and  prevent  some  of  their  comrades 
from  going  on  in  their  voyage  to  hell,  whither  they 
were  all  bound" — I  say,  I  was  reading  this 
passage,  not  a  little  affected  by  the  impiety  of  the 
rascal,  for  whose  portrait  my  dead  Frenchman 
might  very  well  have  sat,  when  I  was  terrified  by 
an  extraordinary  loud  explosion,  that  burst  so  near 
and  rang  with  such  a  prodigious  clear  note  of 
thunder  through  the  schooner  that  I  vow  to  God 
I  believed  the  gunpowder  below  had  blown  up. 
And  in  this  suspicion  I  honestly  supposed  myself 
right  for  a  moment,  for  on  running  into  the  cabin 
I  was  dazzled  by  a  crimson  flame  that  clothed  the 
whole  interior  with  a  wondrous  gush  of  fire ;  but 
this  being  instantly  followed  by  such  another  clap 
as  the  former/I  understood  a  thunderstorm  had 
broken  over  the  schooner. 


39*  THI  FROZEN  PIRAT*. 

It  was  exactly   overhead,  and  that  accounted 
for  the  violence  of  the  crashes,  which  were  indeed 
so  extreme  that  they  sounded  rather  like  the  split- 
ting of  enormous  bodies  of  ice  close  to,  than  the 
flight  of  electric  bolts.     The  hatch  lay  open ;  I 
ran  on  deck,   but   scarce  had   passed   my   head 
through  the  companion  when  down  came  a  storm 
of  hail,  every  stone  as  big  as  a  pigeon's  egg,  and 
in  all  my  time   I    never   heard  a  more    hellish 
clamour.     There  was  not  a  breath  of  air.     The 
hail  fell  in  straight  lines,  which  the  fierce  near 
lightning  flashed  up  into  the  appearance  of  giant 
harp  strings,  on  which  the  black  hand  of  the  night 
was  playing  those  heavy  notes  of  thunder.     I  sat 
in  the  shelter  of  the  companion,  very  anxious  and 
alarmed,  for  there  was  powder  enough  in  the  hold, 
to  blow  the  ship  into  atoms ;  and  the  lightning 
played  so  continuously  and  piercingly  that  it  was 
like  a  hundred  darts  of  fire,  violet,  crimson,  and 
sun-coloured,  in  the  grasp  of  spirits  who  thrust  at 
the  sea,  all  over  its  face,  with  swift  movement  of 
the  arms,  as  though  searching  for  the  schooner 
to  spear  her. 

The  hailstorm  ceased  as  suddenly  as  it  had 
burst.  I  stepped  on  to  the  deck,  and  'twas  like 
treading  on  shingle.  There  was  not  the  least 
motion  in  the  air,  and  the  stagnation  gave  an 
almost  supernatural  character  to  the  thunder  and 
lightning.  The  ocean  was  lighted  up  to  its 
furthest  visible  confines  by  the  flames  in  the  sky, 
and  the  repeated  explosions  of  thunder  exceeded 
the  roaring  of  the  ordnance  of  a  dozen  squadrons 
in  hot  fight.  The  ice-coast  in  the  east,  and  the 


Tn  SCHOOVB&  FREES  HERSELF.         999 

two  score  bergs  in  the  north  and  west  leapt  out  of 
one  hue  into  another ;  and  were  my  days  in  this 
world  to  exceed  those  of  old  Abraham,  I  should 
to  my  last  breath  remember  the  solemn  and 
terrible  magnificence  of  that  picture  of  lightning- 
coloured  ice,  the  sulphur-tinctured  shapes  of  the 
swollen  bodies  of  clouds  bringing  their  dark 
electric  mines  together  in  a  huddle,  the  answering 
flash  of  the  face  of  the  deep  to  the  lancing  of  each 
spiral  dazzling  bolt,  with  the  air  as  still  as  the 
atmosphere  of  a  cathedral  for  the  thunder  to  roll 
its  echoes  through. 

There  was  a  second  furious  shower  of  hail,  and 
when  that  was  over  I  looked  forth,  and  observed 
that  the  storm  was  settling  into  the  north-east, 
whence  I  concluded  that  what  draught  there  might 
be  up  there  sat  in  the  south-west.  Nor  was  I 
mistaken ;  for  half  an  hour  after  the  first  of  the 
outburst,  by  which  time  the  lightning  played  weak 
and  at  long  intervals  low  down,  and  the  thunder 
had  ceased,  I  felt  a  crawling  of  air  coming  put  of 
the  south-west,  which  presently  briskened  into  a 
small  steady  blowing.  But  not  for  long.  It 
freshened  yet  and  yet ;  the  wrinkles  crisped  into 
whiteness  on  the  black  heavings  ;  they  grew  into 
small  surges  with  sharp  cubbish  snarlings  pre- 
ludious  of  the  lion's  voice;  and  by  ten  o'clock  it 
was  blowing  in  strong  squalls,  the  seas  rising, 
and  the  clouds  sailing  swiftly  in  smoke-coloured 
rags  under  the  stars. 

The  posture  of  the  ice  inclined  the  schooner's 
starboard  bow  to  the  billows ;  and  in  a  very  short 
time  she  was  trembling  in  every  bone  to  the  blows 


300  THI  FXOZKW 

of  the  surges  which  rolled  boiling  over  the  ice 
there  and  struck  her,  flinging  dim  clouds  of  spume 
in  the  air,  which  soon  set  the  scuppers  gushing. 
My  case  was  that  of  a  stranded  ship,  with  this 
difference  only,  that  a  vessel  ashore  lies  solid  to 
the  beating  of  the  waves,   whereas  the  ice  was 
buoyant,  it  rose  and  fell,  sluggishly  it  is  true,  and 
so  somewhat  mitigated  the  severity  of  the  shocks 
of  water.     But,  spite  of  this,  I  was  perfectly  sure 
that  unless  the  bed  broke  under  her  or  she  slipt 
off  it,  she  would  be  in  pieces  before  the  morning. 
It  was  not  in  any  hull   put  together  by  human 
hands  to  resist  the  pounding  of  those  seas.     The 
weight  of  the  mighty  ocean  along  whose   breast 
they  raced  was  in  them,  and  though  the  wind  was 
no    more  than  a  brisk  gale,    each  billow  by  its 
stature  showed  itself  the  child  of  a  giantess.     The 
ice-bed  was  like  a  whirlpool  with  the  leap  and 
flash  and  play  of  the  froth  upon  it.     The    black 
air  of  the  night  was  whitened  by  the  storms  of 
foam-flakes    which   flew   over   the    vessel.     The 
roaring  of  the  broken  waters  increased  the  horrors 
of  the    scene.     I   firmly   believed    my   time  was 
come.     God  had  been  merciful,  but  I  was  to   die 
now.     As  to  making   any   shift   to   keep   myself 
alive  after   the  ship    should   be   broken   up,   the 
thought  never  entered  my  head.     What  could  I 
do  ?     There  was  no  boat.     I  might  have  contrived 
some  arrangement  of  booms  and  casks  to  serve 
as  a  raft,  but  to  what  purpose  ?     How  long  would 
it  take  the  wind  and  sea  to  freeze  me? 

I  crouched  in    the  companion-waj  hearkening 
to  the  uproar  around,  feeling  the  convulsions  of 


Tm   SCHOOMKX    FKEKS    HcRSBLT.  $01 

the  schooner,  fully  prepared  for  death,  dogged 
and  hopeless,  No,  I  was  not  afraid.  Suffering 
and  expectation  had  brought  me  to  that  pass  that 
I  did  not  care.  "  'Tis  such  an  end  as  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  sailors  have  met,"  I  remember 
thinking ;  "  it  is  the  fittest  exit  for  a  mariner.  I 
have  sinned  in  my  time,  but  the  Almighty  God 
knows  my  heart."  To  this  tune  ran  my  thoughts. 
I  held  my  arms  tightly  folded  upon  my  breast, 
and  with  set  lips  waited  for  the  first  of  those 
crashing  and  rending  sounds  which  would  betoken 
the  ruin  and  destruction  of  the  schooner. 

So  passed  half  an  hour ;  then,  being  half 
perished  with  the  cold,  I  went  to  the  furnace,  for 
when  the  vessel  went  to  pieces  it  would  matter 
little  in  what  part  of  her  I  was,  and  warmed  my- 
self and  took  a  dram  as  a  felon  swallows  a  draught 
on  his  way  to  the  scaffold.  Were  I  to  attempt  to 
describe  the  character  of  the  thunderous  noises 
in  the  ship  I  should  not  be  believed.  The  seas 
raised  a  most  deafening  roaring  as  they  boiled 
over  the  ice  and  rolled  their  yolumes  against  the 
vessel's  sides.  Every  curl  swung  a  load  of  broken 
frozen  pieces  against  the  bows  and  bends,  and  the 
shocks  resounded  through  her  like  blows  from 
cyclopean  hammers.  It  was  as  if  I  had  been 
seated  in  the  central  stagnant  heart  of  a  small 
revolving  hurricane,  feeling  no  faintest  sigh  of  air 
upon  my  cheek,  whilst  close  around  whirled  the 
hellish  tormenting  conflict  of  white  waters  and 
yelling  blasts. 

On  a  sudden — in  a  breath — I  felt  the  vessel 
rise.  She  was  swung  up  with  the  giddy  velocity 


JM  Tin  Fran  Puura 


•I  a  hunter  clearing  a  tall  gat*  ;  she  sank  again, 
and  there  was  a  mighty  concussion  forward,  then 
a  pause  of  steadiness  whilst  you  might  have 
counted  five,  then  a  wild  upward  heave,  a  sort  of 
sharp  floating  fall,  a  harsh  grating  along  her  keel 
and  sides,  as  though  she  was  being  smartly  warped 
over  rocks,  followed  by  an  unmistakable  free  pitch- 
ing and  rolling  motion. 

I  had  sprung  to  my  feet  and  stood  waiting. 
But  the  instant  I  gathered  by  the  movements  of 
her  that  she  was  released  I  •prang  like  a  madman 
tip  the  companions-steps.  The  sea,  breaking  on 
her  bow,  flew  in  heavy  showers  along  the  deck 
and  half  blinded  me.  But  I  was  semi-delirious, 
and  having  sat  so  long  with  Death's  hand  in  mine 
was  in  a  passionately  defiant  mood,  with  a  perfect 
rage  of  scorn  of  peril  in  me,  and  I  walked  right  on 
to  the  forecastle,  giving  the  flying  sheets  of  water 
there  no  heed.  In  a  minute  a  block  of  sea 
tumbled  upon  me  and  left  me  breathless  ;  the 
iciness  of  it  cooled  my  mind's  heat,  but  not  my 
resolution.  I  was  determined  to  judge  as  best  I 
could  by  the  light  of  the  foam  of  what  had 
happened,  and  holding  on  tenaciously  to  whatever 
came  to  my  hand  and  progressing  step  by  step  I 
got  to  the  forecastle  and  looked  ahead. 

Where  the  ice  was  the  water  tumbled  in  milk  ; 
'twas  four  or  five  ship's  lengths  distant,  and  I 
could  distinguish  no  more  than  that.  I  peered 
orer  the  lee  bow,  but  could  see  no  ice.  The 
vessel  had  gone  clear ;  how,  I  knew  not  and 
cam  never  know,  but  my  own  fancy  is  that  she 
•pik  UM  k*d  with  her  own  weight  when  the  sea 


Tn  SCHOOVBK  nun»  HMLSBLF. 

rose  and  threw  the  ice  up,  for  she  had  floated  on 
a  sudden,  and  the  noises  which  attended  her  re- 
lease indicated  that  she  had  been  forced  through 
a  channel. 

T  returned  aft,  barely  es caping  a  second  deluge, 
and  looked  over  the  quarter;  no  ice  was  there 
visible  to  me.  The  vessel  rolled  horribly,  and  I 
perceived  that  she  had  a  decided  list  to  starboard, 
the  result  of  the  shifting  of  what  was  in  htr  when 
the  ice  came  away  from  the  main  with  her,  and  it 
was  this  heel  that  brought  the  sea  washing  over 
the  bow.  I  took  hold  of  the  tiller  to  try  it,  but 
either  the  helm  was  frozen  immovable  Of  the 
rudder  was  jammed  in  its  gudgeons  or  in  some 
other  fashion  fixed. 

Had  she  been  damaged  below?  was  she  taking 
in  water  ?  I  knew  her  to  be  so  thickly  sheathed 
with  ice  that,  unless  it  had  been  scaled  off  in 
places  by  the  breaking  of  her  bed,  I  had  little  fear 
(until  this  covering  melted  or  dropped  off  by  the 
working  of  the  frame)  of  the  hull  not  proving 
tight.  I  should  have  been  coated  with  ice  myseR 
had  I  stayed  but  a  little  longer  in  my  wet  clothes 
in  that  piercing  wind,  so  I  ran  below,  and  bring- 
ing an  armful  of  clothes  from  my  cabin  to  the 
cook-room,  was  very  soon  in  dry  attire,  and  making 
an  extraordinary  figure,  I  don't  question,  in  the 
buttons,  lace,  and  fripperies  of  the  old-fashioned 
garments. 

The  incident  of  the  schooner's  release  from  the 
ice  had  come  upon  me  so  suddenly,  and  at  a  time 
too  when  my  mind  was  terribly  disordered,  that 
I  scarce  realised  the  full  meaning  of  k  mtfl  I  bad 


304  THE  FROZIN  PI*AT». 

shifted  myself  and  fortified  my  heart  with  a  dram 
and  got  warm  in  the  glow  of  the  furnace.  By 
this  time  she  had  fallen  into  the  trough  and  was 
labouring  like  a  cask;  that  she  would  prove  a 
heavy  roller  in  a  seaway  a  single  glance  at  her  fat 
buttocks  and  swelling  bilge  might  have  persuaded 
me,  but  I  nevef  could  have  dreamt  she  would 
wallow  so  monstrously.  The  oscillation  was 
rendered  more  formidable  by  her  list,  and  there 
were  moments  when  I  could  not  keep  my  feet. 
She  was  shipping  water  very  freely  over  her  star- 
board rail,  but  this  did  not  much  concern  me,  for 
the  break  of  the  poop-deck  kept  the  after  part  of 
the  vessel  indifferently  dry,  and  the  forecastle  and 
main  hatches  were  well  secured.  But  there  was 
one  great  peril  I  knew  not  how  to  provide  against 
— I  mean  the  flotilla  of  icebergs  in  the  north  and 
west.  They  lay  in  a  long  chain  upon  the  sea,  and 
though  to  be  sure  there  was  no  doubt  a  wide 
channel  between  each,  through  which  it  might 
have  been  easy  to  carry  a  ship  under  control,  yet 
there  was  every  probability  of  a  vessel  in  the  de- 
fenceless condition  of  the  schooner,  without  a 
stitch  of  sail  on  her  and  under  no  other  govern- 
ment of  helm  than  a  fixed  rudder,  being  swept 
against  one  of  those  frozen  floating  hills  when 
indeed  it  would  be  good-night  to  her  and  to  me 
too,  for  after  such  a  catastrophe  the  sun  would 
never  rise  for  me  or  her  again. 

Meanwhile  I  was  crazy  to  ascertain  if  the 
schooner  was  taking  in  water.  If  there  wa*  a 
sounding-rod  in  the  ship  I  did  not  know  where  to 
lay  my  bands  upon  it.  But  he  it  a  poor  sailor  who 


THE  SCHOOWK*  FHEW  HK*SW<F.        305 

-  §!ow  at  substitutes.  There  were  several  spears 
in  the  arms-room  (piratical  plunder,  no  doubt) 
with  mere  spikes  for  heads,  like  those  weapons 
used  by  the  Caffres  and  other  tribes  in  that  coun- 
try ;  they  were  formed  of  a  hard  heavy  wood, 
.took  a  length  of  ratline  line  and  secured  it  to  one 
of  these  spears,  and  carried  it  on  deck  with  the 
powder-room  bulPi-eve  lamp ;  but  when  I  probed 
the  sounding-pipe  I  found  it  full  of  ice,  and  as  it 
was  impossible  to  draw  the  pumps,  I  flung  my  in- 
genious sounding-rod  down  in  a  pawion  of  gnef 
and  mortification. 

Yet  was  I  not  to  be  beaten.  Such  was  my  temper, 
had  the  devil  himself   confronted  me,  I   should 
have  defied  him  to  do  his  worst,  for  I  had  made 
up  my  mind  to  weather  him  out.     I   entered 
forecastle,  lanthorn  in  hand,  prized  open  the  hatch 
and  dropped  into  the  hold.     It  needed  an  experi- 
enced ear  to  detect  the  sobbing  of  internal  waten 
amid    the   yearning   gushes,   the   long   gurgling 
washings,  the  thunderous  blows,  and  shrewd  rain- 
like  hissings  of  the  seas  outside.     I  listened  with 
strained   hearing  for  some   minutes,  but   distin- 
guished no  sounds  to  alarm  me  with  assurance  of 
water    in    the   hold.     I    could    not   mistake, 
hearkened  with  all  my  might,  but  the  noise  was 
outside.     I  thanked  God  very  heartily,  and  got 
out  of  the  hold  and  put  the  hatch  on.      There  was 
no  need  to  go  aft  and  listen.     The  schooner  WAI 
by  the  head,  and  there  could  be  no  water  in   the 
run  that  would  not  be  forward  too. 

Being  reassured  in  respect  of  the  staunchness 
of  the  hull,  I  returned  to  the  fire  and  proceeded 


fo6  THE  Fftoonir  Pnun, 

to  equip  myself  for  a  prolonged  watch  on  deck. 
Whilst  I  was  drawing  on  a  great  pair  of  boots  I 
heard  a  knocking  in  the  after  part  of  the  vessei. 
I  supposed  she  had  drifted  into  a  lit'le  field  of 
broken  ice,  and  that  she  would  go  clear  presently, 
and  I  finished  arming  myself  for  the  weather ;  but 
the  knocking  continuing,  I  went  into  the  cabin 
where  I  heard  it  very  plain,  and  walked  as  far  as 
the  lazarette  hatch,  where  I  stood  listening.  The 
noises  were  a  kind  of  irregular  thumping  accom- 
panied by  a  peculiar  grinding  sound .  In  a  moment 
I  guessed  the  truth,  rushed  on  deck,  and  by  the 
dim  light  in  the  air  saw  the  long  tiller  mowing  to 
and  fro !  The  beat  of  the  beam  seas  had  un- 
locked the  froien  bonds  of  the  rudder,  and  there 
swung  the  tiller,  as  though  like  a  dog  the  ship  was 
wagging  her  tail  for  joy T 

The  vessel  lay  along,  rolling  so  as  to  bring  her 
starboard  rail  to  a  level  with  the  sea ;  her  main 
deck  was  full  of  water,  and  the  froth  of  it  com- 
bined  witk  the  ice  that  glased  her  made  her  look 
like  a  fabric  of  marble  as  she  swung  on  the  black 
fold  ere  it  broke  into  snow  about  her.  I  seixed 
the  tiller  and  ran  it  over  hard  a-starboard,  and  I 
had  not  held  it  in  that  posture  half  a  minute  when 
to  my  inexpressible  delight  I  observed  that  she 
was  paying  off.  Her  head  fell  slowly  from  the 
sea ;  she  lurched  drunkenly,  and  some  tons  of 
black  water  rolled  over  the  bulwarks ;  she  reeled 
consumedlv  to  larboard,  and  rose  squarely  and 
ponderously  to  the  height  of  the  surge  that  was 
now  abaft  the  beam,  in  a  few  moments  she  was 
dead  before  it,  the  helm  amidships  UM  wind  biow- 


Tm  SCHOOMB*  runs  Hmaur.        joy 

ing  sheer  ever  the  stern  with  half  its  weight 
seemingly  gone  through  the  vessel  running,  the 
tall  seas  chasing  her  high  stern  and  floating  it  up- 
wards, till  looking  forward  was  like  gating  down 
the  slope  of  a  hill. 

My  heart  was  never  fuller  tfean  then.  I  was 
half  crazy  with  the  passion  of  JOT  that  possessed 
me.  Consider  the  alternations  of  hope  and  bitter 
despair  which  had  been  crowded  into  that  night  1 
We  may  wonder  in  times  of  security  that  life 
should  be  sweet,  and  adroit  the  justice  of  the 
arguments  which  several  sorts  of  writers,  and  the 
poets  even  more  than  the  parsons,  use  in  defence 
of  death.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  pinch  human 
nature  breaks  through.  When  the  old  man  in 
JEsop  calls  upon  Death  to  relieve  him,  and  the 
skeleton  suddenly  rises,  the  old  man  changes  his 
mind,  and  thinks  he  will  go  on  trying  for  him- 
self a  little  longer.  I  liked  to  live,  and  had  no 
mind  for  a  wet  shroud,  and  this  getting  the 
schooner  before  the  wind,  along  with  the  old 
familiar  feeling  of  the  decks  reeling  and  soaring 
and  sinking  under  my  feet,  was  so  cordial  in 
assurance  of  life  that,  I  tell  you,  my  heart  was 
full  to  breaking  with  transport. 

However,  I  was  still  in  a  situation  that  made 
prodigious  demands  upon  my  coolness  and  wits. 
The  wind  was  south-west,  the  schooner  wa» 
running  north-east ;  the.  bulk  of  the  icebergs  lay 
on  the  larboard  bow,  but  there  were  others  right 
ahead,  and  to  starboard,  where  also  Uy  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  island,  though  I  did  not  fear  thai  if  I 
could  escape  the  rest.  It  was  a  dark  night; 


THE  FROZEN  Pnurm. 

methinks  there  should  have  been  a  young  moon 
curled  somewhere  among  the  stars,  but  she  was 
not  to  be  seen.  The  clouds  flew  dark  and 
hurriedly,  and  the  frosty  orbs  between  were  too 
few  to  throw  a  light.  The  ocean  ahead  and  around 
was  the  duskier  for  the  spectral  illumination  of  the 
near  foam  and  the  glimmer  of  the  ice-coated 
ship.  I  tested  the  vessel  with  the  tiller  and  found 
she  responded  but  dully  ;  she  would  be  nimbler 
under  canvas  no  doubt,  but  it  was  enough  that 
she  should  answer  her  helm  at  all.  Oh,  I  say,  I 
was  mighty  thankful,  most  humbly  grateful.  My 
heart  was  never  more  honest  to  its  Maker  than 
then. 

She  crushed  along,  pitching  pitifully,  the  dark 
seas  on  either  hand  foaming  to  her  quarters,  and 
her  rigging  querulous  with  the  wind.  Had  the 
Frenchman  been  alive  to  steer  the  ship,  I  might 
have  found  strength  enough  for  my  hands  in  the 
vigour  of  my  spirit  to  get  the  spritsail  yard 
square  and  chop  its  canvas  loose — nay,  I  might 
have  achieved  more  than  that  even ;  but  I  could 
not  quit  the  tiller  now.  I  reckoned  our  speed  at 
about  four  miles  an  hour,  as  fast  as  a  hearty  man 
could  walk.  The  high  stern,  narrow  as  it  was, 
helped  us  ;  it  was  like  a  raizzen  in  its  way ;  and 
all  aloft  being  stout  to  start  with  and  greatly 
thickened  yet  by  ice,  the  surface  up  there  gave 
plenty  for  t  he  gale  to  catch  hold  on ;  and  so  we 
drove  along. 

I  could  just  make  out  the  dim  pallid  loom  of 
the  coast  of  ice  upon  the  starboard  beam,  and  a 
blob  or  iwo  of  faintness — most  elusive  and  not  to 


Tm  SCHOONER  FREES  HERSELF,        309 

be  fixed  by  the  eye  staring  straight  at  them— on 
the  larboard  bow.     But  it  was  not  long  before 
these  blobs,  as  I  term  them,  grew  plainer,  and 
half  a  score  swam  into  the  dusk  over  the  bowsprit 
end,  and  resembled  dull  small  visionary  openings 
in  the  dark  sky  there,  or  like  stars  magnified  and 
dimmed  into  the  merest  spectral  light  by  mist, 
passed  the  first  at  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile ; 
it  slided  by  phantasmally,  and  another  stole  out 
right  ahead.     This  I  could  have  gone  widely  clear 
of  by  a  little  shift  of  the  helm,  but  whilst  I  was  in 
the  act  of  starboarding  three  or  four  bergs  sud- 
denly showed  on  the  larboard  bow,  and   I   saw 
that  unless  I  had  a  mind  to  bring  the  ship  into 
the  trough  again  I  must  keep  straight  on.     So  I 
steered  to  bring  the  berg  that  was  right  ahead  a 
little  on  the  bow,  with  a  prayer  in  my  soul  that 
there  might  be  no  low-lying  block  in  the  road  for 
the  schooner  to  split  upon.     It  went  by  within  a 
pistol-shot.     I  was  very  much  accustomed  to  the 
sight   of    ice  by   this   time,  yet  I   found  myself 
glancing  at  this  mass  with  pretty  near  as  much 
wonder  and   awe  as  if  I   had  never  seen  such  a 
thing  before.     It  was  not  above  thirty  feet  high, 
but  its  shape  was  exactly  that  of  a  horse's  head, 
the  lips  sipping  the  sea,  the  ears  cocked,  the  neck 
arching  to  the  water.     You  would  have  said  it  was 
some  vast  courser  rising  out  of  the  deep.     The 
peculiar  radiance  of  ice  trembled  off    it   like  a 
luminous  mist  into  the  dusk.     The  water  boiled 
about  its  nose,  and  suggested  a  frothing  caused 
by  the  monster  steed's  expelled  breath.     L«t  a  fire 
been  kindled  to  glow  red  where  you  looked  lot 


Tn  Fiona  PULATB. 


the  eye,  and  the  illusion  would  hare  Wwi  fright- 
fully grand. 

The  poet  speaks  of  the  spirits  of  the,  vasty 
deep ;  it  you  want  to  know  what  exquisite  artists 
they  are,  enter  the  frozen  silences  of  the  south. 

Thus  threading  my  way  I  drove    before    the 
seas  and  wind,  striking  a  piece  of  ice  but  once 
only,  and  that  a  small  lump  which  hit  the  vessel 
on  the  bow  and  went  scraping  past,  doing  the 
fabric  no  hurt ;  but  often  forced  to  slide  perilously 
close  by  the  bergs.     I   needed  twenty  instead  of 
one    pair   of    eyes.     With  ice  already  on  either 
bow,   on  a  sudden  it  would    glimmer  out  right 
ahead,  and   I  had  to  form  my  resolution  on  the 
instant.     If  ever  you  have  been  amid  a  pack  oi 
icebergs  on  a  dark  night  in  a  high  sea  you  \vih 
understand  my  case ;  if  not,  the  pen  of  a  Fielding 
or  a  Defoe  could  not  put  it  before  you.     For  what 
magic  has  ink  to  express  the  roaring  of  swoller. 
waters  bursting  into  tall   pale  clouds  against  the 
motionless  crystal  heights,  the  mystery  of  the  con- 
figuration  of  the  faintness  under    the  swarming 
shadows  of  the  flying  night,  the  sudden  glares  oi 
breaking   liquid  peaks,  the  palpitating  darkness 
beyond,    the    plunging  and  rolling  of   the  ship, 
making  her  rigging  ring  upon  the  air  with  the 
reeling  of  her  masts,  the  gradual  absorption  of 
the  solid  mass  of  dim  lustre  by  the  gloom  astern, 
the  swift  spectral  dawn  of  such  another  light  ovei 
the  bows,  with  many  phantasmal  outlines  slipping 
by  on  either  hand,  like  a  procession  of  giant  oc 

>. veiling  nd  secretly  towards  the 

silent  dominions  of  the  Pole  ? 


TmOUBLBD  BY  THOUGHTS  OF  THB  TlBASUKB.  JII 

Half  this  ice  came  from  the  island,  the  rest  of 
it  was  formed  of  bergs  too  tall  to  have  ever  be- 
longed to  the  north  end  of  that  great  stretch.  It 
took  three  hours  to  pass  clear  of  them,  and  then 
I  had  to  go  on  clinging  to  the  tiller  and  steering 
in  a  most  melancholy  famished  condition  for 
another  long  half-hour  before  I  could  satisfy  my- 
self that  the  sea  was  free. 

But  now  I  was  nearly  dead  with  the  cold.  I 
had  stood  for  five  hours  at  the  helm,  during  all 
which  time  my  mind  had  been  wound  up  to  the 
fiercest  tension  of  anxiety,  and  my  eyes  felt  as  if 
they  were  strained  out  of  their  sockets  by  their 
searching  of  the  gloom  ahead,  and  nature  having 
done  her  best  gave  out  suddenly,  and  not  to  have 
saved  my  life  could  I  have  stood  at  the  tiller 
for  another  ten  minutes. 

The  gear  along  the  rail  was  so  iron-hard  that  I 
could  not  secure  the  helm  with  it,  so  I  softened 
some  lashings  by  holding  them  before  the  fire,  and 
finding  the  schooner  on  my  return  to  be  coming 
round  to  starboard,  I  helped  her  by  putting  the 
tiller  hard  a  port  and  securing  it.  I  then  went 
below,  built  up  the  fire,  lighted  my  pipe,  and  sat 
down  for  warmth  and  rest. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

I   AM   TROUBLED   BY   THOUGHTS  OF  THE 
TREASURE. 

THE  weight  of  the  wind  in  the  rigging  steadied 
the  schooner  somewhat,  and  prevented  her  from 
rolling  too  heavily  to  starboard,  whilst  her  list 


31*  THE  FROZEN  PTRATB. 

corrected  her  larboard  rolls.     So  as  I   tat  below 

she  seemed  to  me  to  be  making  tolerably  good 
weather  of  it.  Not  much  water  came  aboard  ; 
now  and  again  I  would  hear  the  clatter  of  a  fall 
forwards,  hut  at  comfortably  long  intervals. 

I  sat  against  the  dresser  with  my  back  upon 
it,  and  being  dead  tired  must  have  dropped 
asleep  on  a  sudden— indeed,  before  I  had  half 
smoked  my  pipe  out,  and  I  do  not  believe  I 
gave  a  thought  to  my  situation  before  I  slum- 
bered, so  wearied  was  I.  The  cold  awoke  me. 
The  fire  was  out  and  so  was  the  candle  in  the 
lanthorn,  and  I  was  in  coffin  darkness.  This  the 
tinder-box  speedily  remedied.  I  looked  at  my 
watch—seven  o'clock,  as  I  was  a  sinner !  so  that 
my  sleep  had  lasted  between  three  and  four  hours. 

I  went  on  deck  and  found  the  night  still  black 
upon  the  sea,  the  wind  the  same  brisk  gale  that 
was  blowing  when  I  quitted  the  helm,  the  sea  no 
heavier,  and  the  schooner  tumbling  in  true  Dutch 
fashion  upon  it.  I  looked  very  earnestly  around 
but  could  see  no  signs  of  ice.  There  would  be 
daylight  presently,  so  I  went  below,  lighted  the 
fire,  and  got  my  breakfast,  and  when  I  returned 
the  sun  was  up  and  the  sea  visible  to  its  furthest 
reaches. 

It  was  a  fine  wintry  piece ;  the  sea  green  and 

running  in   ridges   with   frothing  heads,  the  sky 

pale  among  the  dark  snow-laden  clouds,  the 

sun    darting    a   ray    now   and    again,  which   was 

swung  into  the  north  by  the  shadows  of  the  clouds 

until   they  extinguished  it.      Remote  in  the  north- 

nun£  m   of  an   iceberg;  there  was 


TlOUBLED   BY   THOUGHTS   OF   THE   TREASW.B.  313 

nothing  else  in  sight.  Yes — something  that  com- 
forted me  exceedingly,  though  it  was  not  very 
many  days  ago  that  a  like  object  had  heavily 
scared  me — an  albatross,  a  noble  bird,  sailing  on 
the  windward  close  enough  to  be  shot.  The  sight 
of  this  living  thing  was  inexpressibly  cheering  ;  it 
put  into  my  head  a  fancy  of  ships  being  at  hand, 
thoughts  of  help  and  of  human  companions.  In 
truth,  my  imagination  was  willing  to  accept  it  as 
the  same  bird  that  I  had  frightened  away  when  in 
the  boat,  now  returned  to  silently  reproach  me  for 
my  treatment  of  it.  Nay,  my  lonely  eye,  my 
subdued  and  suffering  heart  might  even  have 
witnessed  the  good  angel  of  my  life  in  that  solitary 
shape  of  ocean  beauty,  and  have  deemed  that, 
though  unseen,  it  had  been  with  me  throughout, 
and  was  now  made  visible  to  my  gaze  by  the  light 
of  hope  that  had  broken  into  the  darkness  of  my 
adventure. 

Well,  supposing  it  so,  I  should  not  have  been 
the  only  man  who  ever  scared  his  good  angel 
away  and  found  it  faithful  afterwards. 

I  unlashed  the  tiller  and  got  the  schooner 
before  the  wind  and  steered  until  a  little  before 
noon,  letting  her  drive  dead  before  the  sea,  which 
carried  her  north-east.  Then  securing  the  helm 
amidships  I  ran  for  the  quadrant,  and  whilst  wait- 
ing for  the  sun  to  show  himself  I  observed  that 
the  vessel  held  herself  very  steadily  before  the 
wind,  which  might  have  been  owing  to  her  high 
stern  and  the  great  swell  of  her  sides  and  her 
round  bottom;  but  be  the  cause  what  it  might, 
•he  ran  aa  fairly  with  her  helm  amidships  as  if  I 


Si4  THI  FROZE*  PIRATB. 

had  been  at  the  tiller  to  check  her,  a  most  fortu- 
nate condition  of  my  navigation,  for  it  privileged 
me  to  get  about  other  work,  whilst,  at  the  same 
time,  every  hour  was  conveying  me  nearer  to  the 
track  of  ships  and  further  from  the  bitter  regions 
of  the  south. 

I  got  an  observation  and  made  out  that  the 
vessel  had  driven  about  fifteen  leagues  during  the 
night.     She  must  do  better  than  that,  thought  I ; 
and  when   I    had  eaten   some   dinner   I    took  a 
chopper,  and,  going  on  to  the  forecastle,  lay  out 
upon  the  bowsprit,  and  after  beating  the  spritsail- 
yard  block  clear  of  the  ice,  cut  a  way  the  gaskets  that 
confined  the  sail  to  the  yard,  heartily  beating  the 
canvas,  that  was  like  iron,  till  a  clew  of  it  fell.     I 
then  came  in  and  braced  the  yard  square,  and  the 
wind,  presently  catching  the  exposed  part  of 
sail,  blew  more  of  it  out,  and  yet  more,  until  tl 
was  a  good  surface  showing ;  then   to  a  SIK 
hard  blast  of  wind  the  whole  sail   flew  open 
a    mighty   crackling,    as    though    indeed    it 
formed  of  ice;  but  to  render  it  useful  I  ha 
haul  the  sheets  aft,  which   I  could  n 
without  the  help  of  the  Cackles  we  had 
slinging  the  powder  over  the  side;  so  th 
with    one  hindrance  and  another,  the  setting    of 
that  sail  took  me  an  hour  and  a  half. 

But  had  it  occupi<  ill   day  it  would  r. 

been  worth  doin^.     T< 

its  effect  upon  \vas  like  that 

cordial  upon  a  faint i  It  was  not  that  she 

sensibly   showed  w  Is   to  it ;  its  lifting 

tendency   en  to  ride  the  under-running 


seas  more  buoyantly,  and  if  it  increased  her  speed 
by  half  a  knot  an  hour  it  was  worth  a  million  to 
me,  whose  business  it  was  to  take  the  utmost 
possible  advantage  of  the  southerly  gale. 

I  returned  to  the  helm,  warm  with  the  exercise, 
and  gazed  forward  not  a  little  proud  of  my  work. 
Though  the  sail  was  eight-and -forty  years  old  and 
perhaps  older,  it  offered  as  tough  and  stout  a 
surface  to  the  wind  as  if  it  was  fresh  from  the 
sail  maker's  hands,  so  great  are  the  preserving 
qualities  of  ice.  I  looked  wistfully  at  the  topsail, 
but  on  reflecting  that  if  it  should  come  on  to  blow 
hard  enough  to  compel  me  to  heave  the  brig  to 
she  would  never  hull  with  that  canvas  abroad,  I 
resolved  to  let  it  lie,  for  I  could  cut  away  the 
spritsail  if  the  necessity  arose  and  not  greatly 
regret  its  loss  ;  but  to  lose  the  topsail  would  be  a 
serious  matter,  though  if  I  did  not  cut  it  adrift  it 
might  carry  away  the  mast  for  me ;  so,  as  I  say,  I 
would  not  meddle  with  it. 

Finding  that  the  ship  continued  to  steer  her« 
self  very  well,  and  the  better  for  the  spritsail,  I 
thought  I  would  get  the  body  of  the  old  French- 
man overboard  and  so  obtain  a  clear  hold  for  my- 
self so  far  as  corpses  went.  I  carried  the  lanthorn 
into  the  forecastle,  but  when  I  pulled  the  ham- 
mock off  him  I  confess  it  was  not  without  a  stupid 
fear  that  I  should  find  him  alive.  Recollection  of 
his  astounding  vitality  found  something  imperish- 
able in  that  ugly  anatomy,  and  though  he  lay 
before  me  as  dead  and  cold  as  stone,  I  yet  had  a 
fancy  that  the  seeds  of  life  were  still  in  him,  that 
'twas  only  the  current  of  his  being  that  had  frozen, 


THE  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

that  if  I  were  to  thaw  him  afresh  he  might  re- 
cover, and  that  if  I  buried  him  I  should  actually 
be  despatching  him. 

But  though  these  fancies  possessed,  they  did 
not  control  me.  I  took  his  watch  and  whatever 
else  he  had  in  that  way,  carried  him  on  deck  and 
dropped  him  over  the  side,  using  as  little  cere- 
mony as  he  had  employed  in  the  disposal  of  his 
shipmates,  but  affected  by  very  different  emotions  ; 
for  there  was  not  only  the  idea  that  the  vital 
spark  was  still  in  him  ;  I  could  not  but  handle 
with  awe  the  most  mysterious  corpse  the  eye 
had  ever  viewed,  one  who  had  lived  through  a 
stupor  or  death-sleep,  for  eight-and- forty  years, 
in  whom  in  a  few  hours  Time  had  compressed 
the  wizardry  he  stretches  in  others  over  half  a 
century;  who  in  a  night  had  shrunk  from  the 
aspect  of  his  prime  into  the  lean,  puckered, 
bleared-eyed,  deaf,  and  tottering  expression  of  a 
hundred  years. 

But  now  he  was  gone  1  The  bubbles  which 
rose  to  the  plunge  of  his  body  were  his  epitaph  ; 
had  they  risen  blood-red  they  would  have  better 
symbolized  his  life.  The  albatross  stooped  to  the 
spot  where  he  had  vanished  with  a  hoarse  salt 
scream  like  the  laugh  of  a  delirious  woman,  and 
the  wind,  freshening  momentarily  in  a  squall, 
made  one  think  of  the  spirit  of  Nature  as  eager 
to  purify  the  air  of  heaven  from  the  taint  of  the 
dead  pirate's  passage  from  the  bulwarks  to  the 
water's  surface. 

All  that  day  and  through  the  night  that  fol- 
lowed the  schooner  drove,  rolling  and 


THOUBLKD  »r  THOUGHTS  OF  mm  TUUSUEB.  317 

before  the  seas,  into  the  north-east,  to  the  pulling  of 
the  spritsail.  1  made  several  excursions  into  the 
forehold,  but  never  could  hear  the  sound  of  water 
in  the  vessel.  Her  sides  in  places  were  still 
sheathed  in  ice,  but  this  crystal  armour  was  gra- 
dually dropping  off  her  to  the  working  of  her 
frame  in  the  seas,  so  that,  since  she  was  prov- 
ing herself  tight,  it  was  certain  her  staunchness 
owed  nothing  to  the  glassy  plating.  I  had  seen 
some  strange  craft  in  my  day ;  but  nothing  to 
beat  the  appearance  this  old  tub  of  a  hooker 
submitted  to  my  gaze  as  I  viewed  her  from  the 
helm.  How  so  uncouth  a  structure,  with  her  tall 
stern,  flairing  bows,  fat  buttocks,  sloping  masts, 
forecastle-well,  and  massive  head-timbers  ever 
managed  to  pursue  and  overhaul  a  chase  was  only 
to  be  unriddled  by  supposing  all  that  she  took 
to  be  more  unwieldy  and  clumsy  than  herself. 
What  would  a  pirate  of  these  days,  in  his  clean- 
lined  polacca  or  arrowy  schooner,  have  thought  of 
such  an  instrument  as  this  for  the  practice  of  his 
pretty  trade  ?  The  ice  aloft  still  held  for  her 
spars  and  rigging  the  resemblance  of  glass,  and  to 
every  sunbeam  that  flashed  upon  her  from  between 
the  sweeping  clouds  she  would  sparkle  out  into 
many-coloured  twinklings,  marvellously  delicate  in 
colour,  and  changing  their  tints  twenty  times  over 
in  a  breath  through  the  swiftness  of  the  reeling  of 
the  spars. 

I  should  but  fatigue  you  to  follow  the  several 
little  stories  of  these  hours  one  by  one ;  how  I  got 
my  food,  snatched  at  sleep,  stood  at  the  helm, 
gazed  around  the  sea-line  and  the  like.  Just 


llAT*. 


before  sundown  I  saw  a  large  iceberg  in  the  north, 
two  leagues  distant  ;  no  others  were  in  sight,  but 
one  was  enough  to  make  me  uneasy,  and  I  spent 
a  very  troubled  night,  repeatedly  coming  on  deck 
to  look  about  me.  The  schooner  steered  herself 
as  if  a  man  stood  at  the  helm.  The  spritsail  further 
helped  her  in  this,  for,  if  the  curl  01  a  sea  under 
her  forefoot  brought  her  to  larboard  or  starboard, 
the  sail  forced  her  back  again.  Still,  it  was  a  very 
surprising  happy  quality  in  her,  the  next  best 
thing  to  my  having  a  shipmate,  and  a  wonderful 
relief  to  me  who  must  otherwise  have  brought 
her  to,  under  a  lashed  helm,  every  time  I  had 
occasion  to  leave  the  deck. 

The  seaworthiness  of  the  craft,  coupled  with  the 
reasonable  assurance  of  presently  falling  in  with  a 
ship,  rendered  me  so  far  easy  in  my  mind  as  to 
enable  me  to  think  very  frequently  of  the  treasure 
and  how  I  was  to  secure  it.  If  \  fell  in  with  an 
enemy's  cruiser  or  a  privateer  I  must  expect  to  be 
stripped.  This  would  be  the  fortune  of  war,  and  \ 
must  take  my  chance.  My  concern  did  not  lie 
that  way  ;  how  was  I  to  protect  this  property 
that  was  justly  mine,  against  my  own  countrymen, 
suppose  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  carry  the 
schooner  safely  into  English  waters  ?  I  had  a 
brother-in-law,  Jeremiah  Mason,  Esq.,  a  Turkey 
merchant  in  a  small  way  of  business!  whose  office 
was  in  the  'City  of  London,  and,  if  I  could  manage 
to  convey  the  treasure  secretly  to  him,  he  would, 
I  knew,  find  me  a  handsome  account  in  his 
settlement  of  this  affair.  But  it  was  im  possible  to 
strike  out  a  plan.  I  must  wait  aad  attend  the 


TROUBLED  BY  THOUGHTS  OF  THE  TREASURE,  319 

jourse  of  events.  Yet  riches  being  things  which 
fever  the  coldest  imaginations,  I  could  not  look 
ahead  without  excitement  and  irritability  of  fancy, 
I  should  reckon  it  a  hard  fate  indeed  after  my 
cruel  experiences,  my  freeing  the  vessel  from  the 
ice,  my  sailing  her  through  some  thousand  of  miles 
of  perilous  seas,  and  arriving  finally  in  safety,  to 
be  dispossessed  of  what  was  strictly  mine — as 
much  mine  as  if  1  had  fished  it  up  from  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  where  it  must  otherwise  have 
lain  till  the  crack  of  dn 

I  remember  that,  among  other  ideas,  it  entered 
my  head  to  tell  the  master  of  the  first  ship  I  met, 
if  she  were  British,  the  whole  story  of  my  adven- 
ture, to  acquaint  him  with  the  treasure,  to  offer  to 
tranship  it  and  myself  to  his  vessel  and  abandon 
the  schooner,  and  to  propose  a  handsome  reward 
for  his  offices.  But  1  rould  not  bring  my  mind  to 
trust  any  stranger  with  so  great  a  secret.  The 
mere  circumstance  of  the  treasure  not  being  mine, 
in  the  sense  of  my  having  earned  it,  of  its  being 
piratical  plunder,  and  as  much  one's  as  another's, 
might  dull  the  edge  even  of  a  fair-dealing  conscience 
and  expose  me  to  the  machinations  of  a  heavily 
tempted  mind. 

Therefore,  though  I  had  no  plan,  I  was  resolved 
at  all  hazards  to  stick  to  the  schooner,  and,  with  a 
view  to  providing  against  the  curiosity  or  rummag- 
ing of  any  persons  who  should  come  aboard  1  fell  to 
the  following  work  after  getting  my  breakfact 
hung  lanthomi  in  the  run  and  hatchways  and  cabin 
to  enable  me  to  past  «a§i!v  toandfro;  I  therv*nv? 
one  of  the  chests  in  my  cabin  and  carried  it  to  whet* 


Tin  FKOZKM  PIIATB. 

the  treasure  was.  The  chest  I  filled  nearly  three- 
parts  full  with  money,  jewellery,  &c.,  which  sank 
the  contents  of  the  other  chests  to  the  depth  I 
wanted.  I  then  fetched  a  quantity  of  small  arms, 
such  as  pistols  and  hangers  and  cutlasses,  and 
filled  up  the  chests  with  them,  first  placing  a  thick- 
ness of  canvas  over  the  money  anojewellery,  that 
no  glitter  might  show  through.  To  improve  the 
deception  I  brought  another  chest  to  the  run,  and 
wholly  filled  it  with  cutlasses,  powder-horns,  pistols, 
and  the  like,  and  so  fixed  it  that  it  must  be  the 
first  to  come  to  hand.  My  cunning  amounted  to 
this :  that,  suppose  the  run  to  be  rummaged,  the 
contents  of  the  first  chest  were  sure  to  be  turned 
out,  but,  on  the  other  chests  being  opened,  and 
what  they  appeared  to  contain  observed,  it  was  as 
likely  as  not  that  the  rummagers  would  be  satis- 
fied they  .were  arms-chests,  and  quit  meddling 
with  them. 

Herenow  might  I  indulge  in  a  string  of  reflections 
on  the  troubles  and  anxieties  which  money  brings, 
quote  from  Juvenal  and  other  poets,  and  hold  my. 
self  up  to  your  merriment  by  a  contemptuous  ex- 
hibition of  myself,  a  lonely  sailor,  labouring  to 
conceal  his  gold  from  imaginary  knaves,  toiling  in 
the  dark  depth  of  the  vessel,  and  never  heeding 
that,  even  whilst  he  so  worked,  his  ship  might  split 
upon  some  half-tide  rock  of  ice,  and  founder  with 
him  and  his  treasure  too,  and  so  on,  and  so  on. 
But  the  fact  is  I  was  not  a  fool.  Here  was  money 
enough  to  set  me  up  as  a  fine  gentleman  for  life, 
and  I  meant  to  iiid  keep  it  too,  if  I  could. 

A   man  on  his  deathbed,  a  man  in  such  peril  that 


TXOUBUK»  wt  TaoecurrB  or  mm  Tuusum*.  jti 

hii  end  is  certain,  can  afford  to  be  sentimental. 
He  is  going  where  money  is  dross  indeed,  arid  he 
is  in  a  posture  when  to  moralize  upon  human 
greed  and  the  vanity  of  wishes  and  riches  becomes 
biro.  But  would  not  a  man  whose  health  is  hearty, 
and  who  hopes  to  save  his  life,  be  worse  off  than  a 
sheep  in  the  matter  of  brains  not  to  keep  a  firm 
grip  of  Fortune's  hand  when  she  extended  it  ?  I 
know  I  was  very  well  pleased  with  my  morning's 
work  when  I  had  accomplished  it,  and  had  no  mind 
to  qualify  my  satisfaction  by  melancholy  and 
romantic  musings  on  my  condition  and  the  uncer- 
tainty of 'the  future.  This  was  possibly  owing  to 
the  fineness  of  the  weather ;  a  heavy  black  gale 
from  the  north  would  doubtless  have  given  a  very 
different  turn  to  my  humours. 

The  wind  at  dawn  had  weakened  and  come  intc 
the  west.  There  was  a  strong  swell — indeed  there 
always  is  in  this  ocean — but  the  seas  ran  small. 
The  sky  looked  like  marble,  with  its  broad  spread- 
ings  of  high  white  clouds  and  the  veins  of  blue  sky 
between.  I  wished  to  make  all  the  northing  that 
was  possible,  but  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  in 
that  way  with  the  spritsail  alone.  Had  not  the 
capstan  been  frozen  1  should  have  tried  to  get  the 
mainsail  upon  the  ship,  but  without  the  aid  of  ma- 
chinery I  was  helpless.  So,  with  helm  amidships, 
the  schooner  drove  languidly  along  with  her  head 
'due  east,  lifting  as  ponderously  as  a  line-of- battle 
ship  to  the  floating  launches  of  the  high  swell,  and 
the  albatross  hung  as  steadfastly  in  the  wake  of 
my  lonely  ocean  path  as  though  it  had  been  some 
messenger  sent  by  God  to  watch  me  into  safety. 


THE  FROZEM  PIRATE. 
CHAPTER  XXVII. 

I    ENCOUNTER   A  WHALER. 

I  HAD  been  six  days  and  nights  at  sea,  and  the 

morning  of  the  seventh  day  had  come.  With 
the  exception  of  one  day  of  strong  south-westerly 
winds,  which  ran  me  something  to  the  northwards, 
the  weather  h.id  been  fine,  bitterly  cold  indeed, 
but  bright  and  clear.  In  this  time  I  had  run  a 
distance  of  about  six  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to 
the  east,  and  with  no  other  cloths  upon  the 
schooner  than  her  spritsail. 

I  confess,  as  the  hours  passed  away  and  nothing 
hove  into  view,  I  grew  dispirited  and  restless  ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  I  was  comforted  by  the  bright 
weather  and  the  favourable  winds,  and  particularly 
by  the  vessel's  steering  herself,  which  enabled  me 
to  get  rest,  to  keep  myself  warm  with  the  fire,  and 
to  dress  my  food,  yet  ever  pushing  onwards  (how- 
ever slowly)  into  the  navigated  regions  of  thii 
sea. 

On  the  morning  of  the  seventh  day  f  came  on 
deck,  having  slept  since  four  o'clock.  The  wind 
was  icy  keen,  pretty  brisk,  about  west  by  south  ; 
the  movement  in  the  sea  was  from  the  south,  and 
rolled  very  grandly  ;  there  was  a  fog  that  way, 
too,  that  hid  the  horizon,  bringing  the  ocean-line 
to  within  a  league  of  the  schooner ;  but  the  othet 
Quarters  swept  in  a  dark,  clear,  blue  line  against 
ine  sky,  and  there  was  such  a  clarity  of  atmo- 
sphere as  made  the  distances  appear  infinite. 

I  went  below  and  lighted  the  firt  and  got  my 


A  WHALJBU 

breakfast,  all  very  leisurely,  and  when  I  was  done 
I  sat  down  and  smoked  a  pipe.  It  was  so  keen 
on  deck  that  I  had  no  mind  to  leave  the  fire,  and, 
as  all  wa§  well,  I  lounged  thiough  the  best  part  of 
.two  hours  in  the  cook-house,  when,  thinking  it 
was  now  time  to  take  another  survey  of  the  scene 
1  went  on  deck. 

On  looking  over  the  larboard  bulwark  rail,  the 
first  thing  I  saw  was  a  ship  about  two  miles  off. 
She  was  on  the  larboard  tack,  under  courses,  top- 
sails, and  main-topgallant  sail,  heading  as  if  to 
cross  my  bows.  The  sunshine  made  her  canvas 
look  as  white  as  snow  against  the  skirts  of  the 
body  of  vapour  that  had  trailed  a  little  to  leeward 
of  her,  and  her  black  hull  flashed  as  though  she 
discharged  a  broadside  every  time  she  rose  wet  to 
the  northern  glory  out  of  the  hollow  of  the  swell 
with  a  curl  of  silver  at  her  cutwater. 

My  heart  came  into  my  throat ;  I  seemed  not 
to  breathe;  not  to  have  saved  my  life  could  I 
have  uttered  a  cry,  so  amazed  and  transported 
was  I  by  this  unexpected  apparition.  I  stared 
like  one  in  a  dream,  and  my  head  felt  as  if  all  the 
blood  in  my  body  had  surged  into  it.  But  then, 
all  on  a  sudden,  there  happened  a  revulsion  of 
feeling.  Suppose  she  should  prove  a  privateer — 
a  French  war-vessel — of  a  nation  hostile  to  my 
own  ?  Thought  so  wrought  in  me  that  I  trembled 
like  an  idiot  in  a  fright.  The  telescope  was  too 
wreak  to  resolve  her,  I  could  do  better  with  ray 
eyes;  and  !  stood  at  the  bulwarks  gazing  and 
g.i/ing  as  if  she  were  the  spectr*  nhip  &l  the 
Scandinavian  legend. 


THE  FROZE*  PIRATE, 

Thert  were  flags  below  and  I  could 
hoisted  a  signal  of  distress  :  but  to  what  purpose  ? 
If  the  appearance  of  the  schooner  did  not  suffi- 
ciently illustrate  her  condition,  there  was  certain!) 
no  virtue  in  the  language  and  declarations  ff 
bunting  to  exceed  her  own  mute  assurance.  1 
watched  her  with  a  passion  of  anxiety,  never 
doubting  her  intention  to  speak  to  me,  at  all 
events  to  draw  close  and  look  at  me,  wholly  con- 
cerning myself  with  her  character.  The  swell 
made  us  both  dance,  and  the  blue  brows  of  the 
rollers  would  -often  hide  her  to  the  height  of  hei 
rails ;  but  we  were  closing  each  other  middling  fast 
she  travelling  at  seven  and  I  at  four  miles  in  the 
hour,  and  presently  I  could  see  that  she  carried  a 
number  of  boats. 

A  whaler,  thought  I  ;  and  after  a  little  I  was 
sure  of  it  by  perceiving  the  rings  over  her  top- 
gallant rigging  for  the  look-out  to  stand  in. 

On  being  convinced  of  this,  I  ran  below  for  a 
shawl  that  was  in  my  cabin,  and,  jumping  on  to 
the  bulwarks,  stood  flourishing  it  for  some  minutes 
to  let  them  know  that  chere  was  a  man  aboard. 
She  luffed  to  deaden  her  way,  that  I  might 
swim  close,  and  as  we  approached  each 
other  I  observed  a  crowd  of  heads  forward 
looking  at  me,  and  several  men  aft,  all  staring 
intently. 

A  man  scrambled  on  to  the  rail,  and  with  an 
arm  clasping  a  backstay  hailed  me : 

"  Schooner  ahoy !  "  he  bawled,  with  a  strong 
nasal  twang  in  his  *  '  What  ship's  that  ?  " 

"Ti. 


I  nooumx  A  WHALWL  j*?5 

"  Where  are  you  from,  and  where  are  you  bound 
to?" 

"  I  have  been  locked  up  in  the  ice,"  I  cried, 
"and  am  in  want  of  help.  What  ship  are 
you?" 

"  The  Susan  Tucker,  whaler,  of  New  Bedford, 
twenty-seven  monthi  out,"  he  returned.  M  Where 
in  creation  got  you  that  hooker  ?  M 

"  I'm  the  only  man  aboard,"  I  cried,  "  and 
have  no  boat.  Send  to  me,  in  the  name  of  God, 
and  let  the  master  come ! " 

He  waved  his  hand,  bawling,  *  Put  your  hd» 
down — you're  forging  ahead!  mad  00  saying, 
dismounted, 

I  immediately  cast  the  tUler  adrift,  put  ft  hard 
over,  and  secured  it,  then  jumped  on  to  the 
bulwarks  again  to  watch  them.  She  was  Yankee 
beyond  doubt ;  I  had  rather  met  mv  own  country- 
men ;  but,  next  to  a  British,  I  would  have 
chosen  an  American  ship  to  meet.  Somehow, 
despite  the  Frenchman,  I  felt  to  have  been  alone 
throughout  my  adventure ;  and  so  sore  was 
the  effect  of  tnat  solitude  upon  my  spirits  that 
it  seemed  twenty  years  since  I  had  seen  a  ship, 
and  since  I  haa  held  commune  with  my  own 
species.  I  was  terribly  agitated,  and  shook  in 
every  limb.  Life  must  have  been  precious 
always ;  but  never  before  had  it  appeared  M 
precious  as  now,  whilst  I  gazed  at  that  homely 
ship,  with  her  main-topsail  to  the  mast,  swing- 
ing stately  upon  the  swell,  the  faces  of  the 
seamen  plain,  the  smoke  of  her  galley-fin 
breaking  from  the  chimney,  the  sounds  «f 


3*4  TW*  FaoziN  PIIUT*. 

creaking  blocks  and  groaning  parrels  stealing 
from  her.  Such  a  fountain  of  joy  broke  out  of 
my  heart  that  my  whole  being  was  flooded  with 
it,  and  had  that  mood  lasted  I  believe  I  should 
have  exposed  the  treasure  in  the  run,  and  in- 
vited all  the  men  of  the  whaler  to  share  in  it 
with  me. 

They  stared  fixedly ;  little  wonder  that  they 
should  be  astounded  by  such  an  appearance  as 
my  ship  exhibited.  One  of  the  several  boats 
which  hung  at  her  davits  was  lowered,  the  oars 
flashed,  and  presently  she  was  near  enough  to 
be  hit  with  a  biscuit ;  but  when  there  the  master, 
as  I  supposed  him  to  be,  who  was  steering, 
sung  out,  H  'Vast  rowing ! "  the  boat  came  to  a 
stand,  and  her  people  to  a  man  stared  at  me  with 
their  chins  upon  their  shoulders  as  if  I  had  been 
a  fiend.  It  was  plain  as  a  pikestaff  that  they  were 
frightened,  and  that  the  superstitions  of  the  fore- 
castle were  hard  at  work  in  them  whilst  they 
viewed  me.  They  looked  a  queer  company  :  two 
were  negroes,  the  others  pale-faced  bearded  men, 
wrapped  up  in  clothes  to  the  aspect  of  scarecrows. 
The  fellow  who  steered  had  a  face  as  long  as  a 
wet  hammock,  and  it  was  lengthened  yet  to  the 
by  a  beard  like  a  goat's  hanging  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  his  chin. 

He  stood  up — a  tall,  lank  figure,  with  legs 
a  pair  of  compasses — and  hailed  me  afresh,  but 
the  high  swell,  regular  as  the  swing  of  a  pendulum, 
interposed  its  brow  between  him  and  me,  so  that 
At  one  moment  he  was  a  sharply-lined  figure 
against  the  sky  of  the  hori/on,  an4  the  next  he 


I    ENCOUNTER   A   WHALER.  £*? 

and  his  boat  and  crew  were  sheer  gone  out  oi 
sight/and  this  made  an  exchange  of  sentences 
slow  and  troublesome. 

"  Say,  master,"  he  sung  out,  "  what  d'ye  say  tho 
schooner's  name  is  ?  " 

"  The  Boca  del  Dragon!'  I  replied. 
"  And  who  are  you,  matey  ?  " 
"  An  English  sailor  who  has  been  cast  away  on 
an  island  of  ice,"  I  answered,  talking  very  shortly 
that  the  replies  might  follow  the  questions  before 
the  swell  sank  him. 

"  Ay,  ay,"  says  he, "  that's  very  well ;  but  when 
was  you  cast  away,  bully  ?" 
I  gave  him  the  date. 
"  That's  not  a  month  ago,"  cried  he. 
41  It's  long  enough,  whatever  the  time,"  said  I. 
Here  the  crew  fell  a-talking,  turning  from  one 
another  to  stare  at  me,  and    the  negroes'  eyes 
showed  as  big  as  saucers  in  the  dismay  of  their 
regard. 

"  See,  here,  master,"  sung  out  the  long  man, 
"  if  you  han't  been  cast  away  more  than  a  month, 
how  come  you  clothed  as  men  went  dressed  a 
century  sin',  hey  ?  " 

The  reason  of   their    misgivings   flashed  upon 
me.     It  was    not  so  much    the  schooner  as  my 
appearance.     The  truth  was,  my  clothes  having 
been    wetted,    I    had    ever    since    been    wearing 
such    thick    garments    as    I    met    with     in     the 
cabin,    keeping    my  legs    warm    with    jackb 
and   I  had  become  so  used  to  ihe    garb  t 
forgot  I   had    it  on.     You  will  judge ,^  th 
I  must  have  presented  a  figure  very  nicely  < 


THE  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

t»  excite  the  wonder  and  apprehension  of 
a  body  of  men  whose  superstitious  instincts  were 
already  sufficiently  fluttered  by  the  appearance 
of  the  schooner,  when  I  tell  you  that,  in 
addition  to  the  jackboots  and  a  great  fur  cap, 
my  costume  was  formed  of  a  red  plush  waist- 
coat laced  with  silver,  purple  breeches,  a  coat 
of  frieze  with  yellow  braiding  and  huge  caffs, 
and  the  cloak  that  I  had  taken  from  the  body 
of  Mendoia. 

"  Captain/*  cried  I,  "  if  so  be  you  are  the 
captain,  in  the  name  of  God  and  humanity  <  ome 
aboard,  sir."  Here  I  had  to  wait  till  he  icap- 
peared.  "  My  story  is  an  extraordinary  one. 
You  have  nothing  to  fear.  I  am  a  plain  Eng- 
lish tailor;  my  snip  was  the  LAUfktmf  Mary, 
bound  m  ballast  from  Callao  to  the  Cape." 
Here  I  kad  to  wait  again.  "  Pray,  sir,  come 
aboard.  There  is  nothing  to  fear.  I  am  alone 
— in  grievous  distress,  and  in  want  of  kelp.  Pray 
come,  sir ! " 

There  was  so  little  of  the  goblia  m  this  appeal 
that  it  resolved  him.  The  crew  hung  in  the  wind, 
but  he  addressed  them  peremptorily.  I  heard 
him  damn  them  for  a  set  of  curs,  and  tell  them 
that  if  they  put  him  aboard  they  might  lie  off  till 
he  was  ready  to  return,  where  they  would  be  safe, 
as  the  devil  could  not  swim  ;  and  presently  they 
buckled  to  their  oars  again  and  the  boat  came 
alongside.  The  long  man,  watching  his  chance, 
sprang  with  great  agility  into  the  chains,  and 
stepped  on  deck.  1  ran  up  to  him  aad  seised  his 
hand  with  both  mine. 


"  Sir,"  cried  I,  speaking  with  difficulty,  to  great 
was  the  tumult  of  my  spirits  and  the  joy  and 
gratitude  that  swelled  my  heart,  "  I  thank  vou  a 
thousand  times  over  for  this  visit.  I  am  in  the 
most  helpless  condition  that  can  be  imagined.  I 
am  not  astonished  that  you  should  have  been 
startled  by  the  appearance  of  this  veisel  and  by 
the  figure  I  make  in  these  clothes,  but,  §ir,  you 
will  be  much  more  amazed  when  you  hare  heard 
my  story." 

He  eyed  me  iteadfastly,  examining  me  very 
earnestly  from  my  boots  to  my  cap,  and  then  cast 
a  glance  around  him  before  he  made  any  reply  to 
my  address.  He  had  the  gauntness,  sallownesi 
of  complexion,  and  deliberateness  of  manner 
peculiar  to  the  people  of  New  England.  And 
though  he  was  a  very  ugly,  lank,  uncouth  man,  I 
protest  he  was  as  fair  in  my  sight  as  if  he  had 
been  the  ambrosial  angel  described  by  Milton. 

"  Well,  cook  my  gizzard/'  he  exclaimed  pre- 
sently, through  his  nose,  and  after  another  good 
look  at  me  and  along  the  decks  and  up  aloft,  "  if 
this  ain't  mi-raculous,  tew.  Durned  it  we  didn't 
take  this  hooker  for  tome  {host  ship  riz  from  the 
sea,  in  charge  of  a  merman  rigged  out  to  fit  her 
age.  V  are  all  alone,  air  you  ? 

"  All  alone,"  said  I. 

"  Broach  me  every  barrel  aboard  kf  erer  I  soo 
sich  a  vessel,"  he  cried,  his  astonishment  rising 
with  the  searching  glances  he  directed  aloft  aad 
aiow.  "How  old  be  she?" 

*'  She  was  cast  away  in  seventeen  iiadfod  sad 
Wry-three,"  said  I. 


330  THE  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

"Well,  I'm  dumed.     She's  froze  hard,  sirree 
I  reckon  she'll  want  a  hot  sun  to  thaw  her.     Split 
me,  mister,  if  she  ain't  worth  sailing  home  as  a 
show- box." 

I  interrupted  his  ejaculations  by  asking  him  to 
step  below,  where  we  could  sit  warm  whilst  I 
related  my  story,  and  I  asked  him  to  invite  his 
boat's  crew  into  the  cabin  that  I  might  regale 
them  with  a  bowl  of  such  liquor  as  I  ventured  to 
say  had  never  passed  their  lips  in  this  life.  On 
this  he  went  to  the  side,  and,  hailing  the  men, 
ordered  all  but  one  to  step  aboard  and  drink  to 
the  health  of  the  lonesome  sailor  they  had  come 
across.  The  word  "  drink  "  acted  like  a  charm  ; 
they  instantly  hauled  upon  the  painter  arid  brought 
the  boat  to  the  chains  and  tumbled  over  the 
one  of  the  negroes  remaining  in  her.  The 
together  in  a  body,  and  surveyed  me  and  the  ship 
with  a  hundred  marks  of  astonishment. 

'  Mv  lads,"  said   I,  "  my  rig  is  a  strange  one, 
but  I'll  explain  all  shortly.     The  clothes   I 
cast  away  in  are  below,  and   I'll   show  you   t 
I'm  no  spectre,  but  as  real  as  you  ;  though  I  hav 
gone  through  so  much  that,  if"  I  am  not  a  ghost,  i 
is  no  fault  of  old  ocean,  but  owing  to  the  n 
of  God.     My  name  is  Paul    Rodney,  and    I'm   a 
native  of  London.     You,  sir,"  says  "l 
the  long  man,  "  are,  I  presume,  the  master  of  the 
Susan  Tucker?  " 

"  At  your  sarvice — Josiah  Tucker  is  my  r 
and  that  ship  is  my  wife  Susan." 

"  Captain  Tucker,  and  you,  men,  will  you  i 
step    below/'    says    I.     "The   weather    pro* 


e 

it 


1    BVCOUMT1K   A    WliALBfc.  ||I 

1  have  much  to  tell,  and  there  is  that  in 
tfu.  cabin  whidi  will  give  you  patience  to  hear  me." 

1  descended  the  companion-stairs,  and  they  all 
followed,  making  the  interior  that  had  been  so  long 
siient  ring  with  their  heavy  tread,  whilst  from  time 
to  time  a  gruff,  hoarse  whisper  broke  from  one  of 
them.  But  superstition  lay  strong  upon  their 
imagination,  and  they  were  awed  and  quiet.  The 
daylight  came  down  the  hatch,  but  for  all  that  the 
cabin  was  darksome* 

I  waited  till  the  last  man  had  entered,  and  then 
said,  "  Before  we  settle  down  to  a  bowl  and  a 
yarn,  captain,  I  should  like  to  show  you  this 
ship.  It'll  save  me  a  deal  of  description  and 
explanation  if  you  will  be  pleased  to  take  a  view." 

"  Lead  on,  mister,"  said  he  ;  "  but  we  shall  hare 
to  snap  our  eyelids  and  raise  fire  in  that  way,  for 
dumed  if  I,  for  one,  can  see  in  the  dark." 

I  fetched  three  or  four  lanthorns,  and,  lighting 
the  candles,  distributed  them  among  the  men, 
and  then,  in  a  procession,  headed  by  the  captain 
and  me,  we  made  the  rounds.  I  had  half-cleared 
the  arms-room,  but  there  were  weapons  enough 
left,  and  they  stared  at  them  like  yokels  in  a 
booth.  1  showed  them  the  cook-house  and  the 
forecastle,  where  the  deck  was  still  littered  with 
clothes,  and  chests,  and  hammocks  ;  and,  after 
carrying  them  aft  to  the  cabins,  gave  them  a  sight 
of  the  hold.  I  never  saw  men  more  amazed. 
They  filled  the  vessel  with  their  exclamations. 
They  ne^nr  offered  to  touch  anything,  being  too 
much  awed,  but  stepped  about  with  their  heads 
uncovered,  **  quietly  a*  they  couidt  ma  though 


Tin  FIOZXM  Puuura. 

tfctjr  bad  been  ma  crypt,  and  UM  influence  el 

strange  and  terrifying  memoriali  was  upon  them. 
I  also  showed  them  the  clothes  I  had  come  away 
from  the  Laughing  Mary  in ;  and,  that  I  might 
submit  such  an  aspect  to  them  ai  should  touch 
their  sympathies,  I  whipped  off  the  cloak  and  put 
on  my  own  pilot-cloth  coat. 

There  being  nothing  more  to  see,  I  led  them  to 
the  cook-room,  and  there  brewed  a  great  hearty 
bowl  of  brandy-punch,  which  I  seasoned  witn 
lemon,  sugar,  and  spices  into  as  relishable  a 
draught  as  my  knowledge  in  that  way  could  com- 
pass, and,  giving  every  man  a  pannikin,  bade  him 
dip  and  welcome,  myself  first  drinking  to  them 
with  a  brief  speech,  yet  not  so  brief  but  that  I 
broke  down  towards  the  close  of  it,  and  ended 
with  a  dry  sob  or  two. 

They  would  have  been  unworthy  their  country 
and  their  calling  not  to  have  been  touched  by  my 
natural  manifestation  of  emotion;  besides,  the 
brandy  was  an  incomparably  fine  spirit,  and  the 
very  perfume  of  the  steaming  bowl  was  sufficient 
to  stimulate  the  kindly  qualities  of  sailors  who  had 
been  locked  up  for  months  in  a  greasy  old  ship, 
with  no  diviner  smells  about  than  the  stink  of  the 
try-works.  The  captain,  standing  up,  called  upon 
his  men  to  drink  to  me,  promising  me  that  he  was 
very  glad  to  have  fallen  in  with  my  schooner,  and 
then,  looking  at  the  others,  made  a  sign,  where- 
upon they  all  fixed  their  eyes  upon  me  and  drank 
as  one  man,  every  one  emptying  his  pot  and  in- 
verting it  as  a  proof,  and  fetching  a  routing  sigh 
of  satisfaction. 


I   ENCOUNTER  A   WHALUL  33$ 

Thif  ceremony  ended,  I  began  my  story,  be- 
ginning with  the  loss  of  the  Laughing  Mary,  and 
proceeding  step  by  step.  I  told  them  of  the  dead 
body  of  Mendoza,  but  said  nothing  about  the 
Frenchman  and  the  mate,  and  the  Portugal  boat- 
swain, lest  I  should  make  them  afraid  of  the 
vessel,  and  so  get  no  help  to  work  her.  As  to 
acquainting  them  with  my  recovery  of  Tassard, 
after  his  stupor  of  eight-and-forty  years,  I  should 
have  been  mute  on  that  head  in  any  case,  for  so 
extraordinary  a  relation  could,  from  such  people, 
have  earned  me  but  one  of  two  opinions :  either 
that  I  was  mad  and  believed  in  an  impossibility, 
or  that  I  was  a  rogue  and  dealt  in  magic,  and  to 
be  vehemently  shunned.  Yet  there  were  wonders 
enough  in  my  story  without  this,  and  I  recited  it 
to  a  running  commentary  of  all  sorts  of  queer 
Yankee  exclamations. 

There  were  seven  seamen  and  the  captain  and 
(  made  nine,  and  we  pretty  nearly  filled  the  cook- 
room.  'Twas  a  scene  to  be  handled  by  a  Dutch 
brush.  We  were  a  shaggy  company,  in  several 
kinds  of  rude  attire,  and  the  crimson  light  of  the 
furnace,  whose  playing  flames  darted  shadows 
through  the  steady  light  of  the  lanthorns,  caused 
us  to  appear  very  wild.  The  mariners'  eyes 
gleamed  redly  as  their  glances  rove  round  the 
place,  and,  had  you  come  suddenly  among  us,  I 
ve  you  would  have  thought  this  band  of  pale, 
fire-touched,  hairy  men,  with  the  one  ebon  visage 
among  them,  rendered  the  vessel  a  vast  deal  more 
tly  than  ever  she  could  have  shown  when 
sailing  along  with  me  alone  on  board. 


334  TUB  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

They  were  a  good  deal  puzzled  when  I  told 
them  of  the  mines  I  had  made  and  sprung  in  the 
ice.  They  reckoned  the  notion  fine,  but  could 
not  conceive  how  I  had,  single-handed,  broken  out 
the  powder-barrels,  got  them  over  the  side,  and 
fixed  them. 

'  Why,"  said  I,  "  'twas  slow,  heavy  work,  of 
course  ;  but  a  man  who  labours  for  his  life  will  do 
marvellous  things.  It  is  like  the  jump  of  a  hunted 


stag.' 


'  True  for  you,"  says  the  captain.  "  A  swim 
of  two  miles  spends  me  in  pleasurin';  but  I've  swum 
eight  mile  to  save  my  life,  and  stranded  fresh 
as  a  new-hooked  cod.  What's  your  intentions, 
sir  ?  " 

'  To  sail  the  schooner  home,"  said  I,  "if  I  can 
get  help.  She's  too  good  to  abandon.  She'll 
fetch  money  in  England." 

"  Ay,  as  a  show." 

'  Yes,  arid  as  a  coalman.  Rig  her  modernly,  and 
carry  your  forecastle  deck  into  the  head,  captain 
and  she's  a  brave  ship,  fit  for  a  Baltimore  eye." 

He  stroked  down  the  hair  upon  his  chin. 

"  Dip,  captain,  dip,  my  lads ;  there's  enough  of 
this  to  drown  ye  in  the  hold,"  said   I,  pointin: 
the  bowl.     "  Coine,  this  is  a  happy  meeting  for 
me  ;  let  it  be  a  merry  one.     Captain,  I   drink  to 
the  Susan  Tucker" 

"  Sir,  your  servant.  Here's  to  your  sweetheart, 
be  she  wife  or  maid.  Bill,  jump  on  deck  and  take 
a  look  round.  See  to  the  boat." 

One  of  the  men  went  out. 

"  Captain,"  said  I,  "  you  are  a  full  ship  ?  " 


I    ENCOUNTER   A   WHALER.  335 

"That's  so.'1 

"  Bound  home  ?  " 

*  Right  away." 

'  You  have  men  enough  and  to  spare.  Lend 
me  three  of  your  hands  to  help  me  to  the  Thames, 
and  I'll  repay  you  thus;  there  should  be  near  a 
hundred  tons  of  wine  and  brandy,  of  exquisite 
vintage,  and  choice  with  age  beyond  language  in 
the  hold.  Take  what  you  will  of  that  freight ; 
there'll  be  ten  times  the  value  of  your  lay  in  your 
pickings,  modest  as  you  may  prove.  Help  your- 
self to  the  clothes  in  the  cabin  and  forecastle  ; 
they  will  turn  to  account.  For  the  men  you  will 
spare,  and  who  will  volunteer  to  help  me,  this  will 
be  my  undertaking :  the  ship  and  all  that  is  in 
her  to  be  sold  on  her  arrival,  and  the  proceeds 
equally  divided.  Shall  we  call  it  a  thousand 
pounds  apiece  ?  Captain,  she's  well  found :  her 
inventory  would  make  a  list  as  long  as  you,  I'd 
name  a  bigger  sum,  but  here  she  is,  you  shall 
overhaul  her  hold  and  judge  for  yourself." 

I  watched  him  anxiously.  No  man  spoke,  but 
every  eye  was  upon  him.  He  sat  pulling  down 
the  hair  on  his  chin,  then,  jumping  up  on  a  sudden 
and  extending  his  hand,  he  cried,  "  Shake  I  it's  a 
bargain,  if  the  men  '11  jine." 

14  I'll  jine  !  "  exclaimed  a  man. 

There  was  a  pause. 

"And  me,"  said  the  negro. 

I  was  glad  of  this,  and  looked  earnestly  at  the 
others. 

"  Is  she  tight  ?  "  said  a  man. 

"  As  a  bottle,"  said  I. 


Tta  FROZEN  PI&ATB. 

They  fell  silent  again. 

M  Joe  Wilkinson  and  Washington  Crotnwefl— 
them  two  jines,"  said*  the  captain.  "  Bullies,  he 
wants  a  third.  Don't  speak  all  together." 

The  man  named  "  Bill  "  at  this  moment  returned 
to  the  cook-room,  and  reported  all  well  above. 
My  offer  was  repeated  to  him,  but  he  shook  his 
head. 

"  This  is  the  Horn,  mates,"  said  he.  "  There's 
a  deal  o'  water  'tween  this  and  the  Thames.  How 
do  she  sail  ? — no  man  knows." 

"  I  want  none  but  willing  men,"  said  I.  "  Ame- 
ricans make  as  good  sailors  as  the  English. 
What  an  English  seaman  can  face  any  of  you 
can.  There  is  another  negro  in  the  boat.  Will 
you  let  him  step  aboard,  captain?  He  may 
join." 

A  man  was  sent  to  take  his  place.  Presently 
he  arrived,  and  I  gave  him  a  cup  of  punch. 

''Splain  the  business  to  him,  sir,"  said  the 
captain,  filling  his  pannikin ;  "  his  name's  Billy 
Pitt." 

I  did  so ;  and  when  I  told  him  that  Washing 
ton  Cromwell  had  offered,  he  instantly  said,  "  All 
right,  massa,  I'll  be  ob  yah." 

This  was  exactly  what  I  wanted,  and  had  there 
been  a  third  negro  I'd  have  preferred  him  to  the 
white  man. 

'But  how  are  you  going  to  navigate  this  craft 
home  with  three  men?"  said  the  man  ".Bill"  tc 
me. 

"  There'll  be  four  ;  we  shall  do.     The  fewer  thf 

re  dollars,  hey,  Wilkinson?" 


A  BAKGAIV  WITH  TMI  YAVUOL    337 

He  grinned,  and  Cromwell  broke  into  a  rentrml 
laugh. 

They  seemed  very  well  satisfied,  and  to  waj  I. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

I    STRUCK   A    BARGAIN   WITH    TH1   YANKBK. 

THE  captain  put  his  cup  down;  the  bowl  was 
empty ;  I  offered  to  brew  another  jorum,  but  he 
thanked  me  and  said  "no,  adding  significantly  that 
he  would  have  no  more  here,  by  which  he  meant 
chat  he  would  brew  for  himself  in  nis  own  ship 
inon.  The  drink  had  made  him  cheerful  and 
good-natured.  He  recommended  that  we  should 
go  on  deck  and  set  about  transhipping  whilst 
the  weather  held,  for  he  was  an  old  nand  in 
these  seas  and  never  trusted  the  sky  longer 
than  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

'  This  here  list,"  says  he,  "  wants  remedying 
and  that'll  follow  our  easin'  of  the  hold." 

f  Yes,"  said  I,  "and  I  should  be  mighty  thank- 
ful if  some  of  your  men  would  see  all  clear  aloft 
for  me.,  that  we  might  start  with  running  rigging 
that  will  travel,  capstans  that'll  revolve,  and  sails 
that'll  spread." 

"Oh,  we'll   manage   that   for   you,"   said   he. 
1  Tru-ly,  she's    been    bad    froze,  very  bad  froze. 
Durned  if  ever  I  see  a  worse  freeze." 

So  saying  he  called  to  "  Bill,"  who  seemed 
the  principal  man  of  the  boat's  crew,  and  gave 
him  some  directions,  and  immediately  afterwards 
all  the  men  entered  the  boat  and  rowed  away  to 
the  ship. 


338  THE  FROZE*  PIRATK. 

Whilst  they  were  absent  I  carried  the  capUm 
into  the  hold  and  left  him  to  overhaul  it.  I  told 
him  that  all  the  spirits,  provisions,  and  the  like 
were  in  the  hold  and  lazarette,  which  was  true 
enough,  wanting  to  keep  him  out  of  the  run, 
though,  thanks  to  the  precaution  I  had  taken,  I 
was  in  no  fear  even  if  he  should  penetrate  so  deep 
aft.  Before  he  came  out  five-and-twenty  stout 
fellows  arrived  in  four  boats  from  the  ship,  and 
when  we  went  on  deck,  we  found  them  going  the 
rounds  of  the  vessel,  scraping  the  guns  to  get  a 
view  of  them,  peering  down  the  companion,  over- 
hauling the  forecastle-well,  as  I  call  the  hollow 
beyond  the  forecastle,  and  staring  aloft  with 
their  faces  full  of  grinning  wonder.  The  cap- 
tain sang  out  to  them  and  they  all  mustered 
aft. 

"  Now,  lads,"  said  he,  "  there's  a  big  job  before 
vOU — a  big  job  for  Cape  Horn,  I  mean  ;  and  you'U 
have  to  slip  through  it  as  if  you  was  grease. 
When  done  there'll  be  a  carouse,  and  I'll  warrant 
ye  all  such  a  sup  that  the  most  romantic 
among  ye' 11  never  cast  another  pining  thought 
in  the  direction  o'  your  mother's  milk." 

Having  delivered  this  preface,  he  divided  the 
men  into  two  gangs;  one,  under  the  boatswain, 
to  attend  to  the  rigging,  clear  the  canvas  of 
the  ice,  get  the  pumps  and  the  capstans  to 
work,  and  see  all  ready  for  getting  sail  on  the 
schooner;  the  other,  under  the  second  mate,  to 
get  tackles  aloft  and  break  out  the  cargo,  taking 
care  to  trim  ship  whilst  so  doingr 

They  fell    to    their   several   job*   with  a  will. 


A  BARGAIN  WITH  THS  YAVKE* 


339 


Tis    the    habit    of    our  countrymen  to  sneer  at 

the  Americans  as    sailors,  affirming  that  if  ever 

they  win   a    battle    at    sea  it  is  by  the  help  of 

British    renegades.      But    this    I    protest  ;    after 

witnessing  the  smartness  of  those  Yankee  whale- 

men, I  would  sooner  charge  the  English  than  the 

Americans    with    hibberliness  came  the  nautical 

merits  of  the  two  nations  ever  before  me  to  decide 

upon.     They  had  the  hatches  open,  tackles  aloft, 

and  men  at  work  below  whilst  the  mariners  of 

other  countries  would  have  been  standing  looking 

on  and  "jawing  "  upon  the  course  to  be  taken. 

Some  overran  the  fabric  aloft,  clearing,  cutting 

-iway,  pounding,    making  the  ice  fly  in  storms; 

others  sweated  the  capstans   till  they  clanked; 

others  fell  to  the  pumps,  working  with  hammers 

;md  kettles  of  boiling  water.     The  wondrous  old 

'schooner  was  never  busier,  no,  not  in  the  heyday 

of  her  flag,  when  her  guns  were  blazing  and  her 

people  yelling. 

I  doubt  whether  even  a  man-of-war  could  hare 
given  this  work  the  despatch  the  whaler  furnished. 
She  had  eight  boats  and  sixty  men,  and  every 
boat  was  afloat  and  alongside  us  ready  to  carry 
what  she  could  to  the  ship.  I  wished  to  help,  but 
the  captain  would  not  let  me  do  so  ;  he  kept  me 
walking  and  talking,  asking  me  scores  of  questions 
about  the  schooner,  and  all  so  shrewd  that,  with- 
out  appearing  reserved,  I  professed  to  know  little. 
The  great  show  of  clothes  puzzled  him.  He  also 
isked  if  the  crucifix  in  the  cabin  was  silver.  I 
*aid  I  believed  it  was,  fetched  it,  and  asked  him 
to  accept  it,  saying  if  he  would  give  me  the 


340 


THE  FK 


smallest  of  his  boats  tor  u  i  should  be  very  much 
obliged. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  says  he,  "  you  can  hare  a  boat. 
The  men  would  not  sail  with  you  without  a  boat  ;M 
and  after  weighing  the  crucifix  without  the  least 
exhibition  of  veneration  in  his  manner,  he  put  it  in 
his  pocket,  saying  he  knew  a  man  who  would  give 
him  a  couple  of  hundred  dollars  for  the  thing  on 
his  telling  him  that  the  Pope  had  blessed  it. 

"  Ay,  but,"  says  I,  "  how  do  you  know  the  Pope 
has  blessed  it  ? 

"  Then  -Til  bless  it,"  cried  he;  "why,  am  I  a 
cold  Johnny-cake  that  my  blessing  ain't  as  good 
as  another  man's  ?  " 

I  was  glad  I  had  hidden  the  black  flag;  I 
mean,  that  I  had  stowed  it  away  in  the  cabin  of 
the  Frenchman  after  he  was  dead.  The  Yankee 
needed  but  the  sight  to  make  his  suspicions  of  the 
original  character  of  the/toa  dtl  Dragon  flame 
up  ;  and  you  may  suppose  that  I  was  exceeding!} 
anxious  he  should  not  be  sure  that  the  schooner 
had  been  a  pirate,  lest  he  might  have  been  tempted 
to  scrutinize  her  rather  more  closely  than  would 
have  been  agreeable  to  me. 

He  asked  me  if  I  had  met  with  any  money  in 
her :  and  I  answered  evasively  that  in  searching 
the  dead  man  on  the  rocks,  I  had  discovered  a  few 
pieces  in  his  pocket,  but  that  I  had  left  them, 
being  much  too  melancholv  and  convinced  of  my 
approaching  end  to  meddle  with  such  a  useless 
commodity.  From  time  to  time  he  would  ^uit 
me  to  go  to  the  hatch  and  ting  down  orders  to 
the  second  Mate  in  the  hold.  How  m*mj  caaku 


I  STRIKE  A  BAKOAUI  WITH  THE  YAXKBE.    541 

he  meant  to  take  I  did  not  know;  when  he  asked 
me  how  much  I  would  give,  I  replied  :  "  Leave  me 
enough  to  keep  me  ballasted ;  that  will  satisfy  me." 

The  high  swell  demanded  caution,  but  they 
managed  wonderfully  well.  They  never  swung 
more  than  three  casks  into  a  boat,  and  with  this 
cargo  she  would  row  away  to  the  ship  that  lay 
hove-to  close,  and  the  men  in  her  hoisted  the 
casks  aboard. 

The  wind  remained  light  till  half-past  three; 
it  then  freshened  a  bit.  Though  all  hands  had 
knocked  off  at  noon  to  get  dinner — and  a  fine  meal 
I  gave  thein  of  ham,  tongue,  beef,  biscuits,  wine, 
and  brandy — by  half-past  three  they  had  eased 
the  hold  of  ten  boatloads  of  casks,  besides  clear- 
ing out  the  whole  of  the  clothes  from  the  forecastle 
along  with  "as  much  of  the  bedding  as  we  did  not 
require ;  and  I  began  to  think  that  my  Yankee 
intended  to  leave  me  a  clean  ship  to  carry  home, 
though  I  durst  not  remonstrate.  Yet  was  my 
turn  handsomely  served  too.  The  pumps  had 
been  cleared  and  tried,  and  found  to  work  well, 
and — which  was  glad  news  to  me — the  well  found 
dry.  The  running  rigging  had  been  overhauled, 
and  it  travelled  handsomely.  The  sails  had  been 
loosed  and  hoisted  and  lowered  again,  and  the 
canvas  found  in  good  condition.  The  jibboom 
had  been  run  out,  and  the  stays  set  up.  The 
stock  of  fresh  xamined  and  found 

plentiful,  a&  ;  the  head  brought  out 

and  secure^  ck.  In  short,  the 

American  boatswain  had  worked  with  the  judgment 
.and  care  of  a  master-rigger,  of  a  great  artist  in 


34*  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

ropes,  booms,  and  sails,  and  the  schooner  was 
left  to  my  hands  as  fit  for  any  navigation  as  the 
whaler  that  rose  and  fell  on  our  quarter. 

But,  as  I  have  said,  at  half-past  three  in  the 
afternoon,  the  breeze  began  to  sit  in  dark  curls 
upon  the  water,  and  there  was  evidence  enough 
in  the  haziness  in  the  west,  and  in  the  loom  of 
the  shoulders  of  vapour  in  the  dark-blue  obscure 
there,  to  warrant  a  sackful  for  this  capful  pre- 
sently. 

"  I  reckon,"  says  the  captain  to  me,  after  look- 
ing into  the  west,  "that  we'd  best  knock  off  now. 
There's  snow  and  wind  yonder,  and  we'd  better 
see  all  snug  while  there's  time." 

He  called  to  one  of  the  men  to  tell  the  second 
mate  to  come  up  from  below  and  get  the  hatches 
on,  and  bringing  me  to  the  rail,  he  pointed  to  a 
boat,  and  asked  if  that  would  do  ?  I  said  yes,  and 
thanked  him  heartily  for  the  gift,  which  was  hand- 
some, I  must  say,  the  boat  being  a  very  good  one. 
though,  to  be  sure,  he  had  got  many  times  its 
value  out  of  the  schooner ;  and  a  party  of  men 
were  forthwith  told  off  to  get  the  boat  hoisted  and 
stowed. 

"  Now,  Mr.  Rodney,"  said  the  captain,  standing 
in  the  gangway,  "  how  can  I  serve  you  farther  ? ' 

<(  Sir,"   said   I,  "  you   are  very  obliging.     "\ 
things  I  stand  sadly  in  need  of:  a  chart  of   these 
waters  and  a  chronometer." 

"  I'll  send  you  a  chart,"  said  he,  "  that'll  carry 
you  as  high  as  San  Roque  ;  but  I've  only  got  on»- 
chronometer,  sir,  and  can't  spare  him." 

"Well  then,"  said  I,  "if,  wlu-ri  . 


A  BARGAIN  WITH  THE  YANKEE.     343 

you'll  give  me  the  time  by  your  chronometer,  I'll 
set  my  watch  by  it;  but  I'll  thank  you  very  much 
for  the  chart.  The  tracings  below  are  as  shapeless 
as  the  moon  setting  in  a  fog." 

'  You  shall  have  the  chart,"  said  he,  and  then 
called  to  Wilkinson  and  the  two  negroes. 

;<  Lads,"  said  he,  "you're  quite  content,  I  hope  ?  " 

They  answered  "  Yes." 

"You've  all  three. a  claim  upon  me  for  the 
amount  of  what's  owing  ye,"  said  he,  "and  when 
you  turn  up  at  New  Bedford  you  shall  have  it 
—that's  square.  I  see  fifteen  hundred  dollars  a 
man  on  this  job,  if  so  be  as  ye  don't  broach 
too  thirstily  as  you  go  along.  Mr.  Rodney, 
Joe  here's  a  steady,  'spectable  man,  and'll  make 
you  a  good  mate.  Cromwell  and  Billy  Pitt  are 
black  only  in  their  hides ;  all  else's  as  good  as 
white." 

He  then  shook  me  by  the  hand,  and,  calling 
a  farewell  to  Wilkinson  and  the  negroes,  scrambled 
into  the  chains  and  dropped  into  his  boat,  very 
highly  satisfied,  I  make  no  doubt,  with  the  busi- 
ness he  had  done  that  day. 

A  boat's  crew  were  left  behind  to  help  us  to  make 
sail.  But  the  weather  looking  somewhat  wild  in 
the  west  with  the  red  light  of  the  sun  among  the 
clouds  there,  and  the  dark  heave  of  the  swell 
running  into  a  sickly  crimson  under  the  sun 
and  then  glowing  out  dusky  again,  I  got  them  to 
treble-reef  the  mainsail-  and  hoist  it,  and  then 
thanking  them,  advised  them  to  be  off.  Then, 
putting  Cromwell  to  the  tiller,  I  went  forward  with 
is  and  set  the  topsail  and  forestaysail  ((.he 


344  THE  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

ipritsail  lying  furled),  which  would  be  show  enouglr 
of  canvas  till  I  saw  what  the  weather  was  to  be 
like.  I  krpt  the  topsail  aback,  waiting  for  a  boat 
to  arrive  with  my  chart,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  boat  we  had  cheered  returned  with  what  I 
wanted. 

Meanwhile  they  were  shortening  sail  on  the 
whaler,  an;l  though  she  was  ncrbeauty,  yet,  I  tell 
you,  I  found  her  as  picturesque  as  any  ship  I  had 
ever  beheld  as  she  lay  with  her  main  topgallant- 
sail  clewed  up,  her  topsail .  yards  on  the  caps, 
and  the  heads  of  men  knotting  the  reef-points 
showing  black  over  the  white  cloths,  her  hull 
floating  up  out  of  the  hollow  and  flinging  a  wet 
orange  gleam  to  the*  west,  a  tumble  of  creamy 
foam  about  her  to  her  rolling,  shadows  like  the 
passage  of  phantom  hands  hurrying  over  her  sails 
to  the  swaying  of  her  masts,  and  the  swelling  sea 
darkling  from  her  into  the  east. 

I  hollowed  my  hands,  and,  hailing  the  captain, 
who  was  on  the  quarter-deck,  asked  him  for  the 
time  by  his  chronometer.     He  flourished  his  arm 
and  disappeared  and,  presently  returning,  shouted 
to  know  if  I  was  ready.     I  put  the    key  in 
watch  and  answered  yes,  and  then  he  gave   me 
the  time.     M\      ^tch,  though  antique,  was  a  noble 
piece  of  mechanism,  and   I   have  little   doub 
trustworthy  as  his  chronometer.     But  I  was  care- 
ful to  let  it  lie  snu^  in  my  hand.     I  did  not  want 
the  negro  at  the   tiller  nor  the  others  to  se 
They  would  wonder  a  jewelled   piece 

as  this  should  be  in  the  possession  of  tru 
mate  of  a  little  bri^,  and  it  was  my   business  to 


?  STRIKE  A  BARGAIX  WITH  TH»  YAXKBE,     345 

manage  that  they  never  should  kar«  cause  to 
wonder  at  anything  in  that  way. 

The  dusk  of  the  evening  came  quick  out  of  the 
east,  and  the  wind  freshened  with  a  long  cry  in 
our  rigging  as  if  the  eastern  darkness  was  a  foe 
it  was  rushing  out  of  the  west  to  meet.  I  brought 
the  schooner  north-north-east  by  my  compass 
and  watched  her  behaviour  anxiously.  The  swell 
was  on  the  quarter,  and  the  wind  and  sea  a  trifle 
abaft  the  larboard  beam ;  she  leaned  a  little  to 
the  weight  of  her  clothes,  but  was  surprisingly  stiff 
considering  how  light  she  was.  Wilkinson  and  the 
negro  came  and  stood  by  my  side.  The  sea  broke 
heavily  from  the  weather  bow,  and  the  water  roared 
white  under  the  lee  bends  and  spread  astern  in  a 
broad  wake  of  foam.  The  whaler  did  not  brace 
his  yards  up  till  after  we  had  started,  and  now 
hung  a  pale  faint  mass  in  the  windy  darkness  on 
the  quarter.  A  tincture  of  rusty  red  hovered  like 
smoke  coloured  by  the  furnace  that  produces  it, 
in  the  west,  but  the  night  had  drawn  down  quick 
and  dark;  the  washing  noise  of  the  water  was 
sharp,  the  wind  piercingly  cold ;  each  sweep  of 
the  schooner's  masts  to  windward  was  followed 
by  a  dull  roaring  of  the  blast  rushing  out  ot 
the  hollows  of  the  canvas,  and  she  swung  to  the 
seas  with  wild  yaws,  but  with  regularity  suffi- 
cient to  prove  the  strict  government  of  the 
helm. 

But  it  was  being  at  sea !  homeward  bound  too ! 
There  was  no  wish  of  mine,  engendered  by  my 
hideous  loneliness  on  the  ice,  by  my  abhorred 
association  with  the  Frenchman,  that  I  could  not 


34$  THB  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

refer  to  as,  down  to  this  moment,  gratified.  My 
heart  bounded ;  my  spirits  could  not  have  been 
higher  had  this  ocean  been  the  Thames,  and 
yonder  dark  flowing  hills  of  water  the  banks  of 
Erith  and  the  Gravesend  shore. 

I  turned  to  the  three  men  :  "  My  lads,"  said  I, 
"  you  prove  yourselves  fine  bold  fellows  by  thus 
volunteering.  Do  not  fear :  if  God  guides  us 
home — to  my  home,  I  mean — you  shall  find  a 
handsome  account  in  this  business." 

"  Six  more  chaps  would  have  jined  had 
th'ole  man  bin  willin',"  said  Wilkinson.  "  But 
best  as  it  is,  master,  though  she's  a  trifle,  short- 
handed/' 

"  Wn7»  yes/'  .said  I ;  "  but  being  fore  and  aft, 
you  know  1  It  isn't  as  if  we'd  got  courses  to  hand 
and  topsails  to  reef." 

"  Ay,  ay,  dat's  de  troof,"  cried  Billy  Pitt  "  I 
tort  o'  dat.  Fore  an1  aft  makes  de  difference. 
Don't  guess  I  should  hab  volunteer  had  she  been 
a  brig." 

"  There  are  four  of  us,"  said  I.  "  You're  my 
chief  mate,  Wilkinson.  Choose  your  watch." 

"  I  choose  Cromwell,"  said  he  ;  "  he  was  in  my 
watch  aboard  the  whaler." 

'  Very  well,"  I  exclaimed ;  and  this  being 
settled,  and  both  negroes  declaring  themselves 
good  cooks,  we  arranged  that  they  should  alter- 
nately have  the  dressing  of  our  victuals,  that 
Wilkinson  should  have  the  cabin  next  mine,  and 
the  negroes  the  one  in  which  the  Frenchman  had 
slept,  one  taking  the  other's  place  as  he  was 
relieved. 


I  ITEIKB  A  BARGAIN  WITH  THE  YANKEE.     347 

I  asked  Wilkinson  what  he  thought  of  the 
schooner.  He  answered  that  he  was  watching 
her. 

"  There's  nothing  to  find  fault  with  yet,"  said 
he;  "she's  a  whale  at  rolling,  sartinly.  I  guess 
she  walks,  though.  I  reckon  she's  had  enough 
of  the  sea,  like  me,  and's  got  the  scent  o'  the 
land  in  her  nose.  I  guess  old  Noah  wasn't  far  off 
when  her  lines  was  laid.  Mebbe  his  sons  had  the 
building  of  her.  There's  something  scriptural  in 
her  cut.  How  old's  she,  master?" 

[<  Fifty  years  and  more,"  said  I. 

"  Dere's  nuffin'  pertickler  in  dat,"  cried  Crom- 
well. "  I  knows  a  wessel  dat  am  a  hundred  an' 
four  year  old,  s'elp  me  as  I  stand." 

14 1  don't  know  how  the  whaler's  heading,"  said 
I,  "  but  this  schooner's  a  canoe  if  we  aren't  drop- 
ping her!" 

Indeed  she  was  scarce  visible  astern,  a  mere 
windy  flicker  hovering  upon  the  pale  flashings  of 
;he  foam.  It  might  be  perhaps  that  the  whaler 
was  making  a  more  northerly  course  than  we, 
and  under  very  snug  canvas,  though  ours  was 
snug  enough,  too;  but  be  this  as  it  may,  I  was 
mighty  pleased  with  the  slipping  qualities  of  the 
schooner.  I  never  could  have  dreamt  that  so 
odd  and  ugly  a  figure  of  a  ship  would  show  such 
heels.  But  I  think  this  :  we  are  too  prone  to  view 
the  handiwork  of  our  sires  with  contempt.  I  do 
not  know  but  that  their  ships  were  as  fast  as  ours. 
They  made  many  good  passages.  They  mignt 
have  proved  themselves  fleeter  navigators  had  they 
had  the  sextant  and  chr<v  ;n  them 


TH*  FROZIH  Pnum 

along.  Fifty  year*  heace  perhaps  mankind  will 
be  laughing  at  our  crudities ;  at  us,  by  heaven,  who 
flatter  ourselves  that  the  art  of  ship-building  and 
navigation  will  never  be  carried  higher  than  the 
pitch  to  which  we  hare  raised  them  ! 

Cromwell  being  at  the  tiller,  I  told  Billy  Pitt  to 
go  below  and  get  supper,  instructing  him  what  to 
dress  and  how  much  to  melt  for  a  bowl,  for  as 
you  know  there  was  nothing  but  spirits  and  wine 
to  season  our  repasts  with.  I  saw  Cromwell  grin 
widely  into  the  binnacle  candle  flame  when  he 
heard  me  talk  of  ham,  tongue,  sweetmeats,  mar- 
malade and  the  like  for  supper,  together  with  a 
can  of  hot  claret,  and  knowing  sailor's  nature 
middling  well,  I  did  not  doubt  that  the  fare  of  the 
schooner  would  bring  the  three  men  more  into  love 
with  the  adventure  than  even  the  reward  that  was 
to  follow  it, 

I  had  noticed  that  the  bundles  which  had  been 
sent  from  the  whajer  as  belonging  to  the  poor 
fellows  were  meagre  enough  and  showed  indeed 
like  the  end  of  a  long  voyage,  and  I  detained 
Billy  Pitt  a  minute  whilst  I  told  them  that  there 
was  a  handsome  stock  of  clothes  in  the  cabins, 
together  with  linen,  boots,  and  other  articles  of  that 
sort ;  that,  though  the  coats,  breeches,  and 
waistcoats  were  of  bright  colour  and  old-fashioned, 
they  would  keep  them  as  warm  as  if  they  had 
been  cut  by  a  tailor  of  to-day. 

"  These  things,"  said  I,  "you  can  wear  at  sea, 
keeping  your  own  clothes  ready  to  slip  on  should 
we  be  spoken  or  to  wear  when  we  arrive  in 
England.  To-morrow  they  shall  be  divided 


349 

arnong  you,  and  they  will  become  your  property. 
7ne  suit  you  saw  me  in  to-day  is  all  that  I  shall 
need/' 

Both  negroes  burst  into  a  most  diverting  !&ugh 
of  joy  on  hearing  this.  Nothing  delights  a  black 
man  more  than  coloured  apparel.  They  had 
seen  the  clothes  in  the  forecastle  and  guessed 
the  kind  of  garments  I  meant  to  present  them 
with. 

Whilst  supper  was  getting,  I  walked  the  deck 
with  Wilkinson,  both  of  us  keeping  a  bright  look- 
out, for  it  was  blowing  fresh  ;  the  darkness  lay 
thick  about  us,  there  might  be  ice  near  us,  and 
the  schooner  was  storming  under  her  reefed  main- 
sail, topsail,  and  staysail  through  the  hollow  seas, 
thundering  with  a  great  roaring  seething  noise 
into  the  trough,  and  lifting  to  the  foaming  slope 
with  her  masts  wildly  aslant.  I  talked  to  my 
companion  very  freely,  being  anxious  to  find  out 
what  kind  of  person  he  was,  and  I  must  say  that 
there  was  something  in  his  conversation  that  im- 
pressed me  very  favourably.  He  told  me  that  he 
had  a  wife  at  New  Bedford,  that  he  was  heartily 
sick  of  the  sea,  and  that  he  hoped  the  money  he 
would  get  by  this  adventure,  added  to  his  lay, 
would  enable  him  to  set  up  for  himself  ashore. 

'  Well,"  said  I,  "  we  will  see  to-morrow  what 
cargo  Captain  Tucker  has  left  us.  But  that  you 
may  be  under  no  misapprehension,  Wilkinson,  if 
we  are  fortunate  enough  to  bring  the  ship  safely 
to  Englarfd,  I  will  enter  into  a  bond  to  pay  you 
five  hundred  pounds  sterling  for  your  tVarc  one 
week  after  the  date  of  our  arrival." 


35° 


THB  FKOZ«M  PT*AT». 


He  answered  that  if  he  rw\'-.\  g<  t  that  sum  ht 
would  be  a  made  man  for  life.  "But  it's  too 
much  to  expect,  sir,"  says  he. 

I  told  him  that  he  had  no  idea  of  the  value  of  the 
cargo.  The  wines  and  spirits  were  of  such  a  quality 
I  would  stake  my  interest  in  the  schooner  in 
their  fetching  a  large  sum  of  money. 

"  That'll  depend,"  said  he,  "  on  how  much  the 
capt'n  left  us." 

41  He  helped  himself  freely,"  I  answered,  "  but 
we  are  well  off  too.  You  shall  judge  to-morrow. 
Then  there's  the  schooner — as  she  stands: 
besides  a  noble  stock  of  stores  of  all  kinds,  sails, 
ropes,  tools,  ammunition  and  several  chests  of 
small  arms.  I  tell  you  I  will  give  you  five  hundred 
pounds  for  your  share." 

riis  satisfaction  was  expressed  by  his  silence. 
"But,"  continued  I,  "we  must  act  with  judg- 
ment.    What  we  have  we  must  keep.     Are  the 
negroes  trustworthy  men  ?  M 

"Yes,  they  are  honest  fellows.  I  wouldn't 
have  shipped  with  them  else." 

"We  shall  not  require  much  for  ourselves, 
said  I,  "  and  the  rest  we'll  batten  down  and  keep 
snug.  There'll  be  some  manoeuvring  needed  in 
order  to  come  off  clear  with  this  booty  when  we 
arrive:  but  there's  plenty  of  time  to  think  that 
over,  and  our  business  till  then  is  to  look  after 
the  ship  and  pray  for  luck  to  keep  clear  of  any- 
thing hostile.' 

And  then  we  fell  to  other  talk ;  in  the  course  < 
which  he  told  me  he  was  an  Englishman  born, 
out    having    bee*    pressed    into     a    man-o-war, 


I  YALUI  TRB  LADIMG.  $51 

deserted  her  tt  Halifax  and  made  several  voyages 
in  American  ships.  He  was  wrecked  on  the  P-ru- 
vian  coast  and  became  a  beachcomber,  and  tnen 
got  a  berth  in  a  whaler.  He  married  at  New 
Bedford  and  sailed  with  Captain  Tucker — this 
was  his  second  whaling  trip,  he  said,  and  he 
wanted  no  more.  I  told  him  I  was  glad  to  \earn 
that  he  was  a  countryman  of  mine,  but  not  sur- 
prised. His  speech  was  well-larded  with  ameri- 
canisms,  "  but,"  said  I,  "  the  true  twang  is 
wanting,  and,"  added  I,  laughing,  "I  should 
know  you  for  Hampshire  for  all  your  reckons  and 
guesses  if  I  had  to  eat  you  should  I  be  mis- 
taken." 

'  The  press-gang's  the  best  friend  the  Yankees 
has,"  said  he  a  little  sheepishly.  "  Do  any  man 
suppose  I  hadn't  sooner  hail  from  my  native  town 
Southampton  than  from  New  Bedford  ?  Half  the 
American  foksles  is  made  up  of  Yankees  who'd 
prove  hearts  of  oak  if  it  wasn't  for  the  press." 

His  candour  gratified  me  as  showing  that  he 
already  looked  upon  me  as  a  shipmate  to  be 
trusted,  and,  as  I  have-  said,  this  first  chat 
with,  the  man  left  me  strongly  disposed  to 
consider  myself  fortunate  in  having  him  as  an 
associate. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

I  VALUE   THE   LADING. 

THE  day  had  been  so  full  of  business,  theve  nad 
been  so  much  to  engage  my  mind,  that  it  was  not 
until  I  was  seated  at  supper  in  the  old  cook-room 


THE  FROZEN  PIKATM. 

j*  which  I  had  passed  so  many  melancholy  hours, 
rhat  I  found  myself  able  to  take  a  calm  survey  of 
*»y  situation,  ana  to  compare  the  various  motions 
of  my  fortunes  i  could  scarcely  indeed  believe 
t^at  I  was  not  in  a  dream  from  which  I  should 
a^vake  presently,  and  discover  myself  still  securely 
imprisoned  in  the  ice,  and  -  all  those  passages  of 
the  powder-blasts,  the  liberation  of  the  schooner, 
my  lonely  days  in  her  afloat,  my  encounter  with 
the  whaler,  as  visionary  and  vanishing  as  those 
dusky  forms  of  vapour  which  had  swarmed  in 
giant-shape  over  my  little  open  boat. 

But  even  if  confirmation  had  been  wanting  in 
the  sable  visage  of  Billy  Pitt,  who  sat  near  the 
furnace  munching  away  with  prodigious  enjoyment 
of  his  food  and  bringing  his  can  of  hot  spiced 
wine  from  his  vast  blubber  lips  with  a  mighty  sigh 
of  deep  delight,  I  must  have  found  it  in  each 
hissing  leap  and  roaring  plunge  of  the  old  piratical 
bucket,  so  full  of  the  vitality  of  the  wind-swollen 
canvas,  so  quick  with  all  the  life-instincts  of  a 
vessel  storming  through  the  deep  with  buoyant 
keel  and  under  full  control.  Oh,  heaven !  how 
different  from  the  dull  ambling  of  the  morning, 
tne  sluggish  pitching  and  rolling  to  the  weak 
pulling  of  the  spritsail ! 

Wilkinson  and  Cromwell  kept  the  deck  whilst 
Billy  Pitt  and  I  got  our  supper,  and  I  had  some 
talk  with  my  negro,  who  seemed  to  be  a  very 
s:moi*  childish  fellow,  heartily  in  love  with  his 
stomach  and  very  eager  to  see  England.  He  told 
me  that  he  had  heard  it  was  a  fine  country,  and  his 
wish  to  see  it  was  one  reason  of  his  volunteering. 


I    VALUE   THE    LADING.  353 

"  Dcy  say,"  said  he,  "  dat  Lunnon's  a  very  fine 
place,  sah,  bigger  dan  Philadelphy,  and  dat  a 
man  s  skin  don'  tell  agin  him  among  de  yaller  gals 

Ud  tT« 

I  laughed  and  said,  that  in  my  country  people 
were  judged  rather  by  the  colour  of  their  hearts 
than  by  the  hue  of  their  faces. 

"  But  dollars  count  for  something  too,  sah  I 
spects  ?  "  said  he. 

'  Why,  yes,"  said  I,  "  with  dollars  enough  you 
can  make  black  white  in  England." 

'  Hum  !  "  cried  he,  scratching  his  head.  "  I 
guess  it  'ud  take  an  almighty  load  of  dollars  to 
make  me  white,  massa." 

^Put  money  in  your  pocket  and  chink  it,"  said 
I,  "and  your  face'll  be  found  white  enough  I 
warrant." 

"  By  golly !  '•  cried  he,  "  I'll  do  it  den.  S'elp 
me  de  Lord,  massa,  I'd  chink  twenty  year  for  a 
white  face.  Dat  comes  ob  bein' civilized.  Tell'ee 
what  dey  dew,  massa,  dey  makes  you  feel  like  a 
man,  but  dey  lets  you  keep  black,  blast 


'nite 


checked  his  excitement  by  telling  him  that 
in  my  country  he  would  find  that  the  negro  was  a 
person  held  in  very  high  esteem,  that  the  women 
m  particular  valued  him  for  that  very  dinginess 
which  the  Americans  found  distasteful,  and  told 
him  that  I  could  name  several  ladies  of  quality 
who  had  married  their  black  servants. 

He  looked  surprised,  but  not  incredulous,  and 
said  in  his  peculiar  dialect  that  he  had  no  doubt 
I  spoke  the  truth,  as  he  had  always  heard  that 


J54  THK  FROZEN  PIRATI. 

England  was  a  line  country  to  live  in.  i  then  led 
him  insensibly  from  this  topic  to  talk  of  the  sea 
and  his  experiences,  and  tound  that  he  had  seen 
a  very  great  deal,  having  been  freed  when  young, 
and  keeping  to  the  ocean  ever  since  in  many 
different  sorts  of  craft.  Indeed,  I  was  as  much 
pleased  with  him  as  with  Wilkinson,  but  then  I  had 
foreseen  a  simplicity  in  both  the  negroes,  and  in  ex- 
pectation of  finding  this  quality,  so  useful  to  one  in 
my  strange  position,  I  was  overjoyed  when  they  con- 
sented to  help  me  sail  the  schooner  to  the  Thames. 

We  went  on  deck  to  relieve  Wilkinson  and 
Cromwell.  Billy  Pitt  took  the  tiller  and  I  walked 
to  either  rmil  and  stared  into  the  darkness.  It 
was  very  thick  with  occasional  squalls  of  snow, 
which  put  a  screaming  as  of  tortured  cats  into 
the  wind  as  they  swung  through  it.  The  sea  was 
high,  but  the  schooner  was  making  excellent 
weather  of  it,  whilst  she  rolled  and  pitched  through 
the  troubled  darkness  at  seven  knots  in  the  hour. 
'Twas  noble  useful  sailing,  yet  a  speed  not  to  be 
relished  in  these  waters  amid  so  deep  a  shadow. 
Still  the  temptation  to  "hold  on  all,"  as  we 
say,  was  very  great ;  every  mile  carried  us  by  so 
much  nearer  to  the  temperate  parallels,  and 
shortened  to  that  extent  the  long,  long  passage 
that  lay  before  us. 

I  was  pacing  the  deck  briskly,  for  the  wind  was 
horribly  keen,  when  Pitt  suddenly  called  out,  "  I 
say,  massa  t" 

"Hullo,"  I  replied. 

"  Sah,"  he  cried,  "  I  smefl  ic«  ! " 

i    knew    that   this   was    a   capacity    not 


I  YALVB  rmm  LADOTO. 


155 


c  >minon  among  men  who  had  voyaged  much  in 
the  frosty  regions  of  the  deep,  and  instantly 
exclaimed,  "Luff,  then,  luff !  shake  the  way  out 
of  her !  '  sniffing  as  I  spoke,  but  detecting  no 
added  shrewdness  in  the  air  that  was  already 
freezingly  cold.  He  put  the  helm  down,  and  I 
called  to  the  others  below  to  come  on  deck  and 
flatten  in  the  main  sheet.  They  were  up  in  a  trice 
and  tailed  on  with  me,  asking  no  questions,  till  we 
had  the  boom  nearly  amidships. 
I  was  about  to  speak  when  Wilkinson  cried  out, 
[  smell  ice."  He  sniffed  a  moment:  "Yet, 
there's  an  island  aboard.  Anybody  see  it  ?  " 

"Ay,  dere  it  am,  sure  enough  !  "  cried  Crom- 
well "  Dere— on  de  lee-bow— tee  it,  sah  ?  See 
it,  Billy?" 

Yes,  I  saw  it  plain  enough  when  I  knew  when 
to  look  for  it.  Twas  just  such  another  lump  of 
famtness  as  had  wrecked  the  Lvughing  Mary,  a 
mass  of  dull  spectral  light  upon  the  throbbing 
blackness,  and  it  lay  exactly  in  a  Kne  with  the 
course  we  had  been  steering  when  Pitt  first  called 
out,  so  that  assuredly  we  had  not  shifted  our 
helm  a  minute  too  soon.  We  chopped  and  wal- 
lowed past  it  slowly,  keeping  a  sharp  look-out  for 
like  apparitions  in  other  quarters,  and  when  it  had 
disappeared,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  heave  the 
schooner  to  and  keep  her  in  that  posture  till 
daylight,  unless  the  night  cleared.  So  we  got 
the  mainsail  down  and  stowed  it,  clewed  up  the 
top-sail  (which  I  lent  a  hand  to  roll  up),  and  let 
the  vessel  lie  ui-.ler  a  reefed  foresail  with  her 
helm  lashed.  The  weather,  however,  Bust  hare 


356  THI  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

ultimately   compelled    what   the   thickness 
required ;  for   by  ten   o'clock  it  was    blowing  a 
hard  gale,  with  a  frequent    hoariness   of   '  ^ouds 
of  snow  upon  the  blackness,  the  seas  vei^  iii^n 
foaming,  and  the  wind  crying  madly  in  the  rigging. 

I  let  some  time  go  by,  and  then  sounded  the 
well  and  found  no  more  water  than  the  depth  at 
which  the  pumps  sucked.  This  did  wonders  in  the 
way  of  reassuring  the  men,  who  were  rendered 
uneasy  by  the  violent  motions  of  the  unwieldy 
vessel,  and  by  the  very  harsh  straining  noises 
which  rose  out  of  the  hold,  which  latter  they  would 
naturally  attribute  to  the  craziness  of  the  fabric, 
though  the  true  cause  of  it  lay  in  the  number  of 
loose,  movable  bulkheads. 

"  It's  amazin'  to  me  that  she  holds  together  at 
all,"  cried  Wilkinson,  "  so  ancient  she  is  ! " 

"  She's  only  old,"  said  I,  "  in  the  sound  of  the 
years  she's  been  in  existence.  The  ice  has  kept 
her  young.  Would  the  hams  and  tongues  we're 
eating  be  taken  to  be  half  a  century  old  ?  yet 
where  could  you  buy  sweeter  and  better  meat  of 
the  kind  ashore  ?  A  ship's  well  is  your  only  honest 
reporter  of  her  condition.  Ours  has  vouched  in  a 
way  that  should  keep  you  easy." 

"  Arter  de  Soosan  lucker  dis  is  like  bein'  hung 
up  to  dry,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  negroes.  "  It 
war  pump,  pump  dere  and  no  mistake.  I  call  dis 
a  werry  beautiful  little  sheep,  massa  ;  yes,  s'elp  me 
de  Lord,  dere's  nuffin  could  persuade  me  she  ain't 
what  I  says  she  am." 

However,  I  was  up  and  down  a  good  deal  during 
the  night.  But  for  the  treasure  I  should  have 


I  TALUK  THI  LADWC  357 

been  less  anxious,  I   dare  say.     I   had  come  §o 

successfully  to  this  point  that  I  was  resolved,  if 
my  hopes  were  to  miscarry,  the  misfortune  should 
not  be  owing  to  want  of  vigilance  on  my  part ;  and 
there  happened  an  incident  which  inevitably  tended 
to  sharpen  my  watchfulness,  though  I  was  per- 
fectly conscious  there  was  a  million  to  one  against 
its  occurring  a  second  time.  I  came  on  deck  to 
relieve  Wilkinson,  at  midnight,  after  a  half-hour*! 
nodding  doze  by  the  furnace  below.  He  went  ta 
his  cabin ;  I  stood  under  the  lee  of  a  cloth  seiied 
in  the  weather  main  rigging.  Pitt  arrived,  and  ] 
told  him  he  could  return  to  the  cook-house  and 
stay  there  till  1  called  him.  The  helm  being 
lashed,  and  the  schooner  doing  very  well,  nothing 
wanted  watching  in  particular,  yet  I  would  not 
have  the  deck  abandoned,  and  meant  to  keep  a 
look-out,  turn  and  turn  about  with  Pitt,  as  Wilkin- 
son and  Cromwell  had.  The  snow  had  ceased ; 
but  it  was  very  dark  and  thick,  the  ocean  a  roaring 
shadow,  palpitating  upon  the  eyes  in  rolling 
folds  of  blackness,  with  the  quick  expiring 
flash  of  foam  to  windward.  On  a  sudden,  looking 
over  the  weather  quarter,  methought  I  discerned 
a  deeper  shade  in  the  night  there  than  was  else- 
where perceptible.  It  was  like  a  great  blot  of 
ink  upon  the  darkness.  Even  whilst  I  specu- 
lated, it  drew  out  in  the  shape  of  a  ship  running 
before  the  gale.  She  seemed  to  be  heading 
directly  for  us.  The  roof  of  mv  mouth  turned  dry 
as  desert-sand  ;  my  tongue  ana  limbs  refused  their 
office ;  I  could  neither  cry  nor  stir,  being  indeed 
paralyzed  by  the  terrible  suddenness  ef  tkat 


TH»  FROZEN  PTHATII. 

apparition  and  the  imminence  of  our  peril.  It  all 
happened  whilst  you  could  have  told  thirty.  The 
great  black  mass  surged  up  with  the  water  boiling 
about  the  bows ;  she  brought  a  thunder  along 
with  her  in  her  rigging  and  sails  as  she  soared  to 
the  crowns  of  the  seas  she  was  sweeping  before. 
I  could  not  tell  what  canvas  she  was  under,  but 
her  speed  was  a  full  ten  knots,  and  as  I  did  not 
see  her  till  she  was  close,  she  looked  to  come 
upon  us  as  with  a  single  bound.  She  passed  us 
to  windward  within  a  stone's  throw,  and  vanished 
like  a  dark  cloud  melting  into  the  surrounding 
blackness.  Not  a  gleam  of  light  broke  from  her  ; 
you  heard  nothing  but  the  boiling  at  her  bows  and 
the  thunderous  pealing  of  the  gale  in  her  canvas. 
A  quarter  turn  of  the  wheel  would  have  sent  us  to 
the  bottom,  and  her,  no  doubt,  on  top  of  us. 
Whether  she  was  the  Susan  Tucker,  or  some 
other  whaler,  or  a  big  South-Sea-man  driven  low 
and  getting  what  easting  she  could  out  of  the 
gale,  I  know  not.  She  was  as  complete  a  mystery 
of  the  ocean  night  as  any  spectral  fabric,  and  a 
heavier  terror  to  me  than  a  phantasm  worked  by 
ghosts  could  have  proved. 

I  knew  such  a  thing  could  not  happen  again, 
yet  when  I  called  Pitt  I  talked  to  him  about  it  as 
though  we  must  certainly  be  run  down  if  he  did 
not  keep  a  sharp  look-out,  and  when  my  watch 
below  came  round  at  four  o'clock,  I  was  so  agitated 
that  I  was  up  and  down  till  daybreak,  as  though 
my  duty  did  not  end  till  then. 

The  gale  moderated  at  sunrise,  and,  though  it 
was  a  gloomy,  true  Cape  Horn  morning,  with  dark 


I  VALUI  THE  LADING.  359 

driving  clouds,  the  sea  a  dusky  olive,  very  hollow, 
and  frequent  small  quick  squalls  of  sleet  which 
brought  the  wind  to  us  in  sharp  guns,  yet  as  we 
could  see  where  we  were  going,  I  got  the  schooner 
before  it,  heading  her  east-north-east,  and  under  a 
reefed  topsail,  mainsail,  and  staysail,  the  old  bucket 
stormed  through  it  with  the  sputter  and  rage  of  a 
line-of-battle  ship.  There  was  a  log-reel  and  line 
on  deck,  and  I  found  a  sand-glass  in  the  chest  in 
my  cabin  in  which  I  had  met  with  the  quadrants, 
perspective  glass,  and  the  like,  and  I  kept  this  log 
regularly  going,  marking  a  point  of  departure  on 
the  chart  the  American  captain  had  given  me, 
which  I  afterwards  found  to  be  within  two  leagues 
and  a  half  of  the  true  position.  But  for  three  days 
the  weather  continued  so  heavy  that  there  was 
nothing  to  be  done  in  the  shape  of  gratifying  the 
men's  expectations  by  overhauling  what  was  kf' 
of  the  cargo.  Indeed,  we  had  no  leisure  for  such 
work  ;  all  our  waking  hours  had  to  be  sU 
dedicated  to  the  schooner,  and  in  keeping  a  look- 
out for  ice.  But  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day 
broke  with  a  fine  sky  and  a  brisk  breeze  from  a 
little  .to  the  east  of  south,  to  which  we  showed 
every  cloth  the  schooner  had  to  throw  abroad, 
and  being  now  by  dead  reckoning  within  a  few 
leagues  of  the  meridian  of  sixty  degrees,  I  shaped 
a  course  north  by  east  by  my  compass,  with  the 
design  of  getting  a  view  of  Staten  Island  that  I 
might  correct  my  calculations. 

When  we  had  made  sail  and  got  our  breakfast, 
I  told  Wilkinson  and  Cromwell  (Pitt  being  at  the 
tiller) 'that  now  was  a  good  opportunity  for  »- 


THE  FROZEN  Pi*/ 

ting  the  contents  of  the  hold;  and  (not  to 
be  tedious  in  this  part  of  my  relation,  howe. 
may  have  sinned  in  this  respect  elsewhere)  we 
carried  lanthorns  below,  and  spent  the  better  part 
of  the  forenoon  in  taking  stock.  From  a  copy  of 
the  memorandum  I  made  on  that  occasion  (still  in 
my  possession),  we  discovered  that  the  Yankee 
captain  had  left  us  the  following :  thirty  casks 
of  rum,  twenty-eight  hogsheads  of  claret,  seventy- 
five  casks  of  brandy,  fifty  of  sherry,  and  eighteen 
cases  of  beer  in  bottles.  In  addition  to  this  were 
the  stores  in  the  lazarette  (besides  a  quantity  of 
several  kinds  of  wine  in  jars,  &c.)  elsewhere 
enumerated,  besides  all  the  ship's  furniture,  her 
guns,  powder,  small-arms,  &c.,  as  well  as  the 
ship  herself.  I  took  the  men  into  the  run  and 
showed  them  the  chests,  opening  the  little  one 
which  I  had  stocked  with  small-arms,  and  lifting 
the  lids  of  two  or  three  of  th~e  others.  They  were 
perfectly  satisfied,  fully  believing  all  the  chests  to 
be  filled  with  small-arms  and  nothing  else,  and 
so  we  came  away  and  returned  to  the  cabin, 
where,  to  please  them,  I  put  down  the  value  of 
the  cargo  at  a  venture,  setting  figures  against 
each  article,  and  making  out  a  total  of  two  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  forty  pounds.  This  of  course 
included  the  ship. 

"  How  rruch  '11  dat  be  a  man,  massa?"  asked 
Cromwell. 

"  Six  hundred  and  sixty  pounds,"  I  answered. 

The  poor  fellow  was  so  transported  that,  after 
staring  at  me  in  silence  with  the  corners  of  his 


THE  LADIVG.  361 

mouth  stretched  to  his  ears,  he  tossed  up  his  hands, 
burst  into  a  roar  of  laughter,  and  made  several 
skips  about  the  deck. 

"  Of  course,"  said  I,  addressing  Wilkinson, 
"-  my  figures  may  be  ahead  or  short  of  the  truth. 
But  if  you  are  disposed  to  take  the  chance,  I'll 
tell  you  what  I'll  do  ;  I'll  stand  by  my  figures, 
accepting  the  risk  of  the  value  of  the  lading  being 
less  than  what  I  say  it  is,  and  undertake  to  give 
each  man  of  you  six  hundred  and  sixty  pounds 
for  your  share." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  he, "  I  don't  know  that  I  ought 
to  object.  But  a  few  pounds  is  a  matter  of  great 
consequence  to  me,  and  I  reckon  if  these  here 
goods  and  the  wessel  should  turn  out  to  be  worth 
more  than  ye  offer,  the  loss  'ud  go  agin  tiie  grit, 
ay,  if  'twere  twenty  dollars  a  man." 

I  laughed,  and  told  him  to  let  the  matter  rest, 
there  was  plenty  of  time  before  us  ;  I  should  be 
willing  to  stand  to  my  offer  even  if  I  lost  by  it,  so 
heartily  obliged  was  I  to  them  for  coming  to  my 
assistance.  And  in  this  I  spoke  the  truth,  though, 
as  you  will  understand  who  know  my  position,  I 
had  to  finesse.  It  went  against  my  conscience 
to  make  out  that  the  chests  were  full  of  small- 
arms,  but  I  should  have  been  mad  to  tell  them 
the  truth,  and,  perhaps,  by  the  truth  made  devils 
of  men  who  were,  and  promised  to  remain,  st< 
temperate,  honest  fellows.  I  was  not  governed 
by  the  desire  to  keep  all  the  treasure  to  myself ; 
no,  I  vow  to  God  I  should  have  been  glad  to  give 
them  a  moiety  of  it,  had  I  not  apprehended  the 


THB  FIOKBM  PIRAT*. 

v«ry  grave*  consequence!  if  i  were  candid  witfc 
them.  But  this,  surely,  must  be  to  plain  that  h 
is  idle  to  go  on  insisting  on  it. 

The  fine  weather,  the  golden  issue  that  was  to 
attend  our  successful  navigation,  the  satisfactory 
behaviour  of  the  schooner,  put  us  into  a  high 
good-humour  with  one  another ;  and  when  it  came 
to  my  collecting  all  the  clothes  in  the  after  cabins 
and  distributing  them  among  the  three  men,  I 
thought  Billy  Pitt  and  Cromwell  would  have  gone 
mad  with  delight.  To  the  best  of  my  recollection 
the  apparel  that  had  been  left  us  by  the  American 
captain  (who,  as  you  know,  had  cleared  the  fore- 
castle of  the  clothes  there)  consisted  of  several 
coats  of  cut  velvet,  trimmed  with  gold  and  silver 
lace,  some  frocks  of  white  drab  with  large  plate 
buttons,  brocade  waistcoats  of  blue  satin  and 
green  silk,  crimson  and  other  coloured  cloth 
breeches,  along  with  some  cloaks,  three-corner 
hats,  black  and  white  stockings,  a  number  of 
raffled  shirts,  and  other  articles,  of  which  I  recol- 
lect the  character,  though  my  ignorance  of  the 
costumes  of  that  period  prevents  me  from  naming 
them. 

Any  one  acquainted  with  the  negro's  delight  in 
coloured  clothes  will  hardly  need  to  be  told  of  the 
extravagant  joy  raised  in  the  black  breasts  of 
Crorrrvell  and  Pitt  by  my  distribution  of  this  fine 
attire.  The  lace,  to  be  sure,  was  tarnished,  and 
some  of  the  colours  faded,  but  all  the  same  the 
apparel  furnished  a  brave  show ;  and  such  was 
the  avidity  with  which  the  poor  creatures  snatched 
at  the  garments  as  I  offered  them  first  to  one  and 


TUB  LADIBO.  363 

then  another,  that  I  believe  they  would  have  been 
perfectly  satisfied  with  the  clothes  alone  as  pay- 
ment for  their  services.  I  made  this  distribution 
on  the  quarter-deck,  or  little  poop,  rather,  that  all 
might  be  present :  Wilkinson  was  at  the  tiller, 
and  appeared  highly  delighted  with  the  bundle 
allotted  him,  saying  that  he  might  reckon  upon  a 
hearty  welcome  from  his  wife  when  she  came  to 
know  what  was  in  his  chest.  The  negroes  were 
wild  to  clothe  themselves  at  once  ;  I  advised  them 
to  wait  for  the  warm  weather,  but  they  were  too 
impatient  to  put  on  their  fine  feathers  to  heed  my 
advice.  •  They  ran  below,  and  were  gone  half  an 
hour,  during  which  time  I  have  no  doubt  they 
put  on  all  they  had ;  and  when  at  last  they 
returned,  their  appearance  was  so  exquisitely 
absurd  that  I  laughed  till  I  came  near  to  suffocat- 
ing. Each  negro  had  tied  a  silver  laced  hat  on  to 
his  woolly  head  ;  one  wore  a  pair  of  crimson,  the 
other  a  pair  of  black,  velvet  breeches  ;  over  their 
cucumber  shanks  they  had  drawn  white  silk 
stockings,  regardless  of  the  cold  ;  their  feet  were 
encased  in  buckled  shoes,  and  their  costumes 
were  completed  by  scarlet  and  blue  waist  c. 
which  fell  to  their  knees,  and  crimson  and  blue 
coats  with  immense  skirts.  What  struck  me  as 
most  astonishing  was  their  gravii.y.  Their  self- 
complacency  was  prodigious ;  they  eyed  each 
other  with  dignified  approbation,  and  strutted 
with  the  air  of  provincial  mayors  and  aldermen 
newly  arrived  from  the  presence  of  royalty. 

"  They're    in    keepin'  with   the  schooner,  any 
ways/'  said  Wilkinson. 


304 

And  so  perhaps  they  were.     The  antique  fabrk 

needed  the  sparkle  of  those  costumes  on  her  deck 
to  make  her  aspect  fit  in  with  the  imaginations  sht 
bred.  But,  as  I  had  anticipated,  the  cold  proved 
too  powerful  for  their  conceit,  and  they  wen 
presently  glad  to  ship  their  more  modern  trousers 
though  they  clung  obstinately  to  their  waistcoats 
and  could  not  be  persuaded  to  remove  their  hats  or 
any  account  whatever. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

OUR  PROGRESS  TO  THE  CHANNEL. 

WHEN  I  started  to  relate  my  adventure  I  neve? 
designed  to  write  an  account  of  the  journey  horn* 
at  large.  On  the  contrary,  I  foresaw  that,  by  th< 
time  I  had  arrived  at  this  part,  you  would  have  ha<? 
enough  of  the  SCA.  Let  me  now,  then,  be  as  brie' 
as  possible. 

The  melting  of  the  ice  and  the  slowly  increas 
ing  power  of  the  sun  were  inexpressibly  consoling 
to  me  who  had  had  so  much  of  the  cold  that  I  dr 
protest  if  Elysium  were  bleak,  no  matter  hon 
radiant,  and  the  abode  of  the  fiends  as  hot  as  if 
is  pictured,  I  would  choose  to  turn  my  back  upor 
the  angels.  1  cannot  say,  however,  that  the 
schooner  was  ^properly  thawed  until  we  were  hard 
upon  the  parallels  of  the  Falkland  Islands  ;  she 
then  showed  her  timbers  naked  to  the  sun,  and 
exposed  a  brown  solid  deck  rendered  ugly  by 
several  dark  patches  which,  scrape  as  we  might, 
we  could  not  obliterate.  We  struck  the  guns 
into  the  hold  for  the  better  ballasting  of  the 


Otnt  PROGRBM  TO  THE  CHANNEL.       365 

raael,  got  studding-sail  booms  aloft,  overhauled 
her  suits  of  canvas  and  found  a  great  square  sail 
wnich  proved  of  inestimable  importance  in  light 
winds  and  in  running.  After  the  ice  was  wholly 
melted  out  of  her  frame  she  made  a  little  water, 
yet  not  so  much  but  that  half  an  hour's  spell  at  the 
pump  twice  a  day  easily  freed  her.  But,  curi- 
ously enough,  at  the  end  of  a  fortnight  she 
became  tight  again,  which  I  attribute  to  the 
swelling  of  her  timbers. 

We  were  a  slender  company,  but  we  managed 
extraordinarily  well.  The  men  were  wonderfully 
content;  I  never  heard  so  much  as  a  murmur 
escape  one  of  them ;.  they  never  exceeded 
their  rations  nor  asked  for  a  drop  more  of  liquor 
than  we  had  agreed  among  us  should  be  served 
out.  But,  as  I  had  anticipated,  our  security  lay 
in  our  slenderness.  We  were  too  few  for  disaffec- 
tion. The  negroes  were  as  simple  as  children, 
Wilkinson  looked  to  find  his  account  in  a  happy 
arrival,~and  if  I  was  not,  strictly  speaking,  their 
captain,  I  was  their  navigator  without  whom  their 
case  would  Tiave  been  as  perilous  as  mine  was  on 
the  ice. 

Outside  the  natural  dangers  of  the  sea  we  had 
but  one  anxiety,  and  that  concerned  our  being 
chased  and  taken.  This  fear  was  heartily  shared 
by  my  companions,  to  whom  I  also  represented  that 
it  must  be  our  business  to  give  even  the  ships  of 
our  country  a  wide  berth  ;  for,  though  I  had  long 
since  flung  all  the  compromising  bunting  over- 
board, and  destroyed  all  the  papers  I  could  come 
across,  which  being  written  in  a  language  1 


J66  Turn  Fftoau  Puurm. 

ignorant  of,  might,  for  all  1  knew,  contain  some 
damning  information,  a  British  ship  would  be 
sure  to  board  us  and  I  should  have  to  tell  the 
truth  or  take  the  risks  of  prevaricating.  If  I  told 
the  truth,  then  I  should  have  to  admit  that  the 
lading  of  the  vessel  was  piratical  plunder;  and 
though  I  knew  not  how  the  law  stood  with  regard 
to  booty  rescued  from  certain  destruction  after 
the  lapse  of  hard  upon  half  a  century,  ret  it  was 
a  hundred  to  one  that  the  whole  would  be  claimed 
in  the  king's  name  under  a  talk  of  restitution, 
which  signified  that  we  should  never  hear  more  of 
it.  On  the  other  hand  prevarication  would  not 
fail  to  excite  suspicion,  and  on  our  not  being  able 
to  satisfactorily  account  for  our  possession  of  the 
ship  and  what  was  in  her,  it  might  end  in  our 
actually  being  seized  as  pirates  and  perhaps 
executed. 

This  reasoning  went  very  well  with  the  men  and 
filled  them  with  such  anxiety  that  they  were  for 
ever  on  the  look-out  for  a  sail.  But,  as  you  may 
guess,  my  own  solicitude  sank  very  much  deeper ; 
For,  supposing  the  schooner  to  be  rummaged  by 
an  English  crew,  it  was  as  certain  as  that  my 
hand  was  affixed  to  mv  arm  that  the  chests  of 
treasure  would  be  transhipped  and  lost  to  me  by 
the  law's  trickery. 

Now,  till  we  were  to  the  north  of  the  equator 
we  sighted  nothing ;  no,  in  all  those  days  not  a 
single  sail  ever  hove  into  view  to  break  the 
melancholy  continuity  of  the  sea-line.  But 
between  the  parallels  of  la"  and  22*  N.  we  met 
witk  no  lets  than  eight  ships,  tko 


Ova  PftooftMi  *•  rmm  QUUTML.      jft? 

withia  a  league.  Wt  watched  them  as  cats 
watch  mice  ;  making  a  point  to  bear  away  if  they 
were  going  our  road,  or,  if  they  were  coming 
towards  us,  to  shift  our  helm — but  never  very 
markedly — so  as  to  let  them  pass  us  at  the  widest 
possible  distance.  Some  of  them  showed  a 
colour,  but  we  never  answered  their  signals. 
That  they  were  all  harmless  traders  I  will  not 
affirm ;  but  none  of  them  offered  to  chase  us. 
Yet  could  I  have  been  sure  of  a  ship,  I  should  have 
been  glad  to  speak.  My  longitude  was  little  more 
than  guess-work ;  my  latitude  not  very  certain  ;  and 
my  compass  was  out.  However,  I  supported  my 
own  and  the  spirits  of  my  little  company  by  telling 
them  of  the  early  navigators ;  how  Columbus, 
Candish,  Drake,  Schouten  and  other  heroic 
marine  worthies  of  distant  times  had  navigated  the 
globe,  discovered  new  worlds,  penetrated  into  the 
most  secret  solitudes  of  the  deep  without  any 
notion  of  longitude  and  with  no  better  instruments 
to  take  the  sun's  height  than  the  forettaff  and 
astrolabe.  We  were  better  off  than  ttay,  and  I 
had  not  the  least  doubt,  I  told  them,  ol  bringing 
the  old  schooner  to  a  safe  berth  off  Deal  or 
Gravesend. 

But  it  happened  that  we  were  chased  when  on 
the  polar  verge  of  the  North- East  Trade- vind.  It 
was  blowing  brisk,  the  sea  breaking  in  si  vow  upon 
the  weather  bow,  th«  sky  overcast  with  clouds, 
and  the  schooner  washing  through  it  under  a 
single-reefed  maipsail  and  whole  topsail.  It  was 
noon :  I  was  taking  an  observation,  when  Pitt  at 
tho  tiller  sang  out  "Sail  hot"  aa4  lo*kia*  I 


368  THB  FROZE*  Pit ATO, 

spied  the  swelling  cloud-like  canvas  of  a  vessel  mi 
a  line  with  our  starboard  cathead.  I  told  Pitt  to 
let  the  schooner  fall  off  three  points,  and  with 
slackened  sheets  the  old  Boca  del  Dragon 
hummed  through  it  brilliantly,  flinging  the-  foam 
as  far  aft  as  the  gangway.  The  strange  sail  rose 
rapidly,  and  the  lifting  of  her  hull  discovered  her 
to  be  a  line-of-battle  ship.  We  held  on  as  we 
were,  hoping  to  escape  h^r  notice  ;  but  whether 
she  did  not  like  our  appearance,  or  that  there  was 
something  in  the  figure  we  cut  that  excited  her 
curiosity,  she,  on  a  sudden,  put  her  helm  up  and 
steered  a  true  course  for  us. 

At  the  first  sight  of  her  I  had  called  Wilkinson 
and  Cromwell  on  deck,  and  I  now  cried  out, 
"  Lads,  d'ye  see,  she's  after  us.  If  she  catches 
us  our  dream  of  dollars  is  over.  Lively  now,  boys, 
and  give  her  all  she  can  stagger  under  ;  and  what 
she  can't  carry  she  must  drag."  And  we  sprang 
to  make  sail  briskly  as  apes,  and  every  one  work- 
ing with  two-man  power.  I  knew  the  old  Bocas 
best  point ;  it  was  with  the  wind  a  point  abaft  the 
beam  ;  we  put  her  to  that,  got  the  great  square-sail 
on  her,  shook  out  all  reefs,  and  gave  all  she  had  to 
the  wind.  The  wake  roared  away  from  her  like  a 
white  torrent  that  flies  from  the  foot  of  a  foaming 
cataract.  She  had  the  pirate's  instincts,  and 
being  put  to  her  trumps,  was  nimble.  God  !  how 
she  did  swing  through  it !  Never  had  I  driven  the 
aged  bucket  before  like  this,  and  I  understood 
that  speed  at  sea  is  not  irreconcilable  with  odd 
bodies.  But  the  great  ship  to  windward  hung 
steady;  a  cloud  of  bland  *nd  swelling  cloth*. 


Orm  PROGICS*  TO  TH*  CHAWYXL.       369 

When  we  had  set  the  studding-sail  we  had  nothing 
more  to  fly  with  ;  and  so  we  stood  looking.  She 
slapped  six  shots  at  us,  one  after  another,  as  a 
haughty  hint  to  us  to  stop ;  but  we  meant  to 
escape,  and  at  last  we  did,  outsailing  her  by 
thirteen  inches  to  her  foot — one  foot  to 
her  twelve — though  she  stuck  to  our  skirts  the 
whole  afternoon  and  kept  us  in  an  agony  of 
anxiety. 

The  sun  was  setting  when  she  abandoned  us : 
she  was  then  some  five  or  six  miles  distant  on  our 
weather  quarter.  What  her  nation  was  I  did  not 
know  ;  but  Wilkinson  reckoned  her  French  when 
she  gave  us  up.  We  rushed  steadily  along  the 
same  course  into  the  darkness  of  the  night  and 
then,  shortening  sail,  brought  the  schooner  to  the 
wind  again,  after  which  we  drank  to  the  frisky 
old  jade  in  an  honestly-earned  bowl. 

It  was  on  the  5th  of  December  that  we  sighted 
the  Scilly  Isles.  I  guessed  what  that  land  was, 
but  so  vague  had  been  my  navigation  that  I  durst 
not  be  sure ;  until,  spying  a  smack  with  her  nets 
over,  I  steered  for  her  and  got  the  information  I 
needed  from  her  people.  They  answered  us  with 
an  air  of  fear,  and  in  truth  the  fellows  had  reason  ; 
for,  besides  the  singular  appearance  of  the  ship, 
the  four  of  us  were  af^paneied  in  odds  and  ends 
of  the  antique  cloth**,  and  I  have  little  doubt 
they  considered  us  lunatics  of  another  country, 
who  had  run  awa/y  with  a  ship  belonging  to 
where  the  teu^s  and  fashions  were  behind 
the  age. 

Now,  as  you  may  suppose,  by  this  time  I   had 


370  THB  Fnozi*  Pi*AT«t 

settled  my  plans  •  and  as  we  sailed  up  channel,  I 
unfolded  them  to  my  companions.  I  pointed  out 
that  before  we  entered  the  river  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  discharge  our  lading  into  some  little  vessel 
that  would  smuggle  the  booty  ashore  for  us. 
The  figure  the  schooner  made  was  so  peculiar 
she  would  inevitably  attract  attention ;  she 
would  instantly  be  boarded  in  the  Thames  on  our 
coming  to  anchor,  and,  if  I  told  the  truth,  she 
would  be  seized  as  a  pirate,  and  ourselves  dis- 
missed with  a  small  reward,  and  perhaps  witr 
nothing. 

"  My  scheme,"  said  I,  "is  this  :  I  have  a  rela 
tive  in  London  to  whom  1  shall  communicate  tht 
news  of  ray  arrival  and  tell  him  my  story.  You, 
Wilkinson  must  be  the  bearer  of  this  letter.  He 
is  a  shrewd,  active  man,  and  I  will  leave  k  to  him 
to  engage  the  help  we  want.  There  is  no  lack 
of  the  right  kind  of  serviceable  men  at  Deal,  and 
if  they  are  promised  a  substantial  interest  in 
smuggling  our  lading  ashore,  they  will  run  the 
goods  successfully,  do  not  fear.  As  there  is  sure 
to  be  a  man-of-war  stationed  in  the  Downs,  we 
must  keep  clear  of  that  anchorage.  I  will  land 
you  at  Lydd,  whence  vou  will  make  your  way  to 
Dover  and  thence  to  London.  Cromwell  and  Pitt 
will  return  and  help  me  to  keep  cruising.  My 
letter  to  my  relative  will  tell  him  where  to  seek 
me,  and  I  shall  know  his  boat  by  her  flying  a  jack. 
When  we  have  discharged  our  lading  we  will  sail 
to  the  Thames,  and  then  let  who  will  come  aboard, 
for  we  shall  have  a  clean  hold.  This,"  continued 
I,  "  is  the  beat  scheme  I  can  devia*.  HM  risk 


Ovm  PROGUM  TO  TRB  CKAWBL. 


of  smuggling  attend  it,  to  be  sure ;  but  against 
those  risks  we  have  to  put  the  certainty  of  our 
forfeiting  our  just  claims  to  the  property  if 
we  carry  the  schooner  to  thtr  Thames.  Even 
suppose  when  there,  that  we  should  not  be 
immediately  visited,  and  so  be  provided  with  an 
opportunity  to  land  our  stuff — whom  have  we  to 
trust  ?  The  Thames  abounds  with  river  thieves, 
with  lumpers,  scuffle- hunters,  mud-larks,  glutmen, 
rogues  of  all  sorts,  to  hire  whom  would  mean  to 
bribe  them  with  the  value  of  half  the  lading  and 
to  risk  their  stealing  the  other  half.  But  this  is 
the  lesser  difficulty ;  the  main  one  lies  in  this  : 
there  are  some  sixteen  hundred  men  employed  in 
the  London  Custom  House,  most  of  whom  are  on 
river  duty  as  watchmen  ;  thirty  of  these  people 
are  clapped  aboard  an  East  Indiaman,  five  or  six 
on  West  India  ships,  and  a  like  proportion  in  other 
vessels.  So  strange  a  craft  as  ours  would  be 
visited,  depend  on  't,  and  smartly,  too.  D'ye  see 
the  danger,  lads  ?  What  do  you  say,  then,  to 
my  scheme  ? " 

The  negroes  immediately  answered  that  they 
left  it  to  me  ;  I  knew  best ;  they  would  be  satis- 
fied with  whatever  I  did. 

Wilkinson  mused  a  while  and  then  said, 
li  Smuggling  was  risky  work.  How  would  it  be 
if  we  represented  that  we  had  found  the  schooner 
washing  about  with  nobody  aboard  ?  " 

'  The    tale    wouldn't    be    credited,"    said    I. 

'  The  age  of  the  vessel  would  tell  against  such 

a  story,  even  if  you  removed  all  other  evidence 

by  throwing    the    clothes    and    small -arms  over- 


3/f  TH»  FROZE*  Praxm 

board  and  whatever  else  might  go  to  prove  thai 
the  schooner  must  have  been  floating  about 
abandoned  since  the  year  1 750 1 " 

"  Musn't  lose  de  clothes,  massa,  on  no  account," 
cried  Pitt. 

"  Well,  sir,"  says  Wilkinson,  after  another  spell 
of  reflection,  "  I  reckon  you're  right.  If  so  be  the 
law  would  seize  the  vessel  and  goods  on  the 
grounds  that  she  had  been  a  pirate  and  all  that's 
in  her  was  plunder,  why,  then,  certainly,  I  don't 
see  nothin'  else  but  to  make  a  smuggling  job 
of  it,  as  you  say,  sir." 

This  being  settled  (Wilkinson's  concurrence 
being  rendered  the  easier  by  my  telling  him 
that,  providing  the  lading  was  safely  run,  I 
would  adhere  to  mv  undertaking  to  give  them 
six  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  each  for  their 
share),  I  went  below  and  spent  half  an  hour 
over  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jeremiah  Mason.  There 
was  no  ink,  but  I  found  «i  pencil,  and  for  paper 
I  used  the  fly-leaves  of  the  books  in  my  cabin. 
I  opened  with  a  sketch  of  my  adventures,  and 
then  went  on  to  relate  that  the  Boca  was 
a  rich  ship ;  that  as  she  had  been  a  pirate,  I 
risked  her  seizure  by  carrying  her  to  London ; 
that  I  stood  grievously  in  need  of  his  counsel 
and  help,  and  begged  him  not  to  lose  a  moment 
in  returning  with  the  messenger  to  Deal,  and 
there  hiring  a  boat  and  coming  to  me,  whom  he 
would  find  cruising  off  Beachy  Head.  That  I 
might  know  his  boat,  I  bade  him  flv  a  jack  a 
little  below  the  masthead.  "  As  for  tne  Bota  d*l 
Dragon"  I  added,  "  Wilkinson  would  recognize  her 


Qua  PROGRESS  TO  THK  CHAVMIL.        373 

if  she  were  in  the  middle  of  a  thousand  sail,  and 
indeed  a  farmer's  boy  would  be  able  to  distin- 
guish her  for  her  uncommon  oddness  of  figure." 
I  was  satisfied  to  underscore  the  words  "  a  rich 
ship,"  quite  certain  his  imagination  would  be 
sufficiently  fired  by  the  expression.  At  anything 
further  I  durst  not  hint,  as  the  letter  would  be 
open  for  Wilkinson  to  read. 

When  I  had  finished,  I  took  a  lanthorn  and  the 
keys  of  the  chest  and  went  very  secretly  and  expe- 
ditiously  to  the  run,  and  removing  the  layers  of 
small-arms  from  the  top  of  the  case  that  held  the 
money,  I  picked  out  some  English  pieces,  quickly 
returned  the  small-arms,  locked  the  chest,  and 
returned. 

All  this  time  we  were  running  up  Channel  before 
a  fresh  westerly  wind.  It  was  true  December 
weather,  very  raw,  and  the  horizon  thick,  but  I 
knew  my  road  well,  and  whilst  the  loom  of  the 
land  showed,  I  desired  nothing  better  than  this 
thickness. 

But  wary  sailing  delayed  us ;  and  it  was  not 
till  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  seventh  that 
we  hove  the  schooner  to  off  the  shingly  beach  of 
Lydd  within  sound  of  the  wash  of  the  sea  upon 
it.  The  bay  sheltered  us  ;  we  got  the  boat  over ; 
I  gave  Wilkinson  the  letter  and  ten  guineas,  bid- 
ding him  keep  them  hidden  and  to  use  them 
cautiously  with  the  silver  change  he  would  receive, 
for  they  were  all  guineas  of  the  first  George  and 
might  excite  comment  if  he,  a  poor  sailor,  ill-clad, 
should  pull  them  out  and  exhibit  them.  Happily, 
in  the  hurry  of  the  time,  he  did  not  think  U 


174  TMM  FKOCBV  PIKAT*. 

me  how  I  had  come  by  them.  He  thrust  them 
into  his  pocket,  shook  my  hand  and  dropped  into 
the  boat,  and  the  negroes  immediately  rowed  him 
ashore. 

I  stood  holding  a  Ian  thorn  upon  the  rail  to 
serve  them  as  a  guide,  waiting  for  the  boat  to 
return,  and  never  breathed  more  freely  in  my  life 
than  when  I  heard  the  sound  of  oars.  The  two 
negroes  came  alongside,  and,  clapping  the  tackles 
on  to  the  boat,  we  hoisted  her  with  the  capstan, 
and  then  under  very  small  canvas  stood  out  to 
sea  again. 

CHAPTER   XXXI. 

THE   END. 

I  SHOULD  require  to  write  to  the  length  of  this 
beok  over  again  to  do  full  justice  by  description 
to  the  difficulties  and  anxieties  of  the  days  that 
now  followed.  If  it  had  not  been  thick  weather  all 
the  time,  I  do  not  know  how  I  should  have  fared, 
I  am  sure.  I  was  between  two  fires,  so  to  say  ; 
on  the  one  side  the  French  cruisers  and  privateers, 
and  on  the  other  side  the  ships  of  my  own  country, 
and  particularly  the  revenue  cutters  and  the 
sloops  and  the  like  cruising  after  the  smugglers. 
As  I  knew  that  my  relative  could  not  be  with  me 
jnder  four  davs,  I  steered  out  of  sight  of  land 
into  the  middle  of  the  Channel,  betwixt  Beachy 
Head  and  the  Seine  coast,  and  there  dodged 
about  under  very  small  canvas,  heartily  grateful 
for  the  haze  that  shroud rd  the  sea  to  within  * 
mile  of  me.  I  scarcely  closed  my  «y«*  in  sleep, 


THI  HMD.  375 

and  though  my  worries  were  now  of  a  rery 
different  kind  from  those  which  had  racked  me  on 
the  ice,  they  were,  in  their  way,  to  the  full  as  tor- 
menting. Every  sail  that  loomed  in  the  dinginess 
filled  me  with  alarm.  Several  ships  passed  me 
close,  and  I  could  scarce  breathe  till  they  were  out 
of  sight.  Indeed,  I  lay  skulking  out  upon  that 
sea  as  if  I  was  some  common  thief  broken  loose 
from  jail.  However,  it  pleased  heaven  that  I 
should  manage  to  keep  out  of  sight  of  those 
whom  I  most  strenuously  desired  not  to  see ;  and 
the  afternoon  of  the  fourth  day  found  the  Boca 
lying  off  Beachy  Head,  and  I  peering  over  the 
rail,  with  a  haggard  face,  at  the  dark  shadow  of  the 
land. 

It  had  been  blowing  and  snowing  all  day.  The 
seas  ran  short  and  spitefully.  It  was  a  dismal 
December  afternoon,  and  the  more  sensibly  dis- 
gusting to  us  who  were  fresh  from  several  weeks 
of  the  balm  and  glory  of  the  tropics.  And  yet  I 
would  not  have  exchanged  it  for  a  clear  fine  day 
for  all  that  I  was  like  to  be  worth. 

It  was  the  most  reasonable  thing  in  the  world 
that  a  vessel  should  be  hove-to  in  such  sombre 
weather,  and  so  I  was  under  no  concern  that  our 
posture  in  this  respect  would  excite  suspicion, 
should  we  be  descried.  The  hours  stole  away 
onr  by  one.  Now  and  again  a  little  coaster 
would  pass,  some  hoy  bound  west,  a  sloop  for  the 
T/iames,  a  lugger  on  some  unguessable  mission  : 
aJj  small  ships,  oozing  dark  and  damp  out  of  the 
s  (ow  and  mist  and  passing  silently.  I  kept  the 
}  nd  close  aboard  to  be  out  of  the  way  of  the 


TH*  FROZEN  PIEATI. 

bigger  craft,  and  held  the  vessel  in  the  wind  rifl 
it  was  necessary  to  rrach  to  our  station.  The 
three  of  us  were  mighty  pensive  and  eager,  staring 
incessantly  with  all  our  eyes ;  but  it  looked  as  if 
we  were  nr*  to  expect  anything  that  day  when  the 
night  put  its  darkness  into  the  weather.  Then, 
as  I  foresaw  a  serious  danger  if  the  wind  shifted 
into  the  south,  and  as  I  could  not  obtain  a  glimpse 
of  a  shore-light,  I  resolved  to  bring  up  and  ride 
till  dawn.  Long  ago  we  had  got  the  schooner*! 
old  anchors  at  the  catheads  and  the  cables  bent, 
so,  lowering  the  mainsail  and  hauling  down  the 
stay  foresail,  we  let  fall  the  itarboard  anchor,  and 
the  ship  came  to  a  stand.  I  put  the  lead  over 
the  side  that  we  might  know  if  she  dragged,  hung 
a  lantern  on  the  forestay  and  one  en  either  quarter 
that  our  presence  might  be  marked  by  my  relative 
should  he  be  out  in  quest  of  us,  and  went  below, 
leaving  Cromwell  to  keep  the  look-out. 

I  was  extremelv  fretful  and  anxious  and  had 
no  patience  to  talk  with  Billy  Pitt.  There  were 
too  many  risks,  too  many  vague  chances  in  this 
exploit  to  render  contemplation  of  it  tolerable. 
Suppose  my  relative  should  be  dead  ?  Suppose 
Wilkinson  should  be  robbed  of  his  money  ?  fall 
to  the  cutting  of  capers,  as  a  sailor  newly  delivered 
to  the  pleasures  of  the  land  with  ten  guineas  in 
his  pocket?  Get  locked  up  for  breaking  the 
peace?  Blab  of  us  in  his  cups  and  start  the 
Customs  on  our  trail  ?  There  was  no  end  to  such 
conjectures,  and  I  made  myself  so  melancholy 
that  I  was  fool  enough  to  think  that  the  treasure 
was  no  better  than  a  curse,  and  that  oo  the  whole 


TH»  HMD.  377 

I  was  better  of!  on  the  ice  than  here  with  the 
anchor  in  English  ground  and  my  native  soil  with- 
in gunshot. 

I  was  up  and  about  till  midnight,  and  then, 
be-lng  in  the  cabin  and  exhausted,  I  fell  asleep 
across  the  table,  and  in  that  posture  lay  as  one 
dead.  Some  one  dragging  at  my  arm,  with 
renr  little  tenderness,  awoke  me.  I  was  in  the 
midst  of  a  dream  of  the  schooner  having  been 
boarded  by  a  party  of  French  privateersmen,  with 
Tassard  at  their  head,  and  the  roughness  with  which 
I  was  aroused  was  exactly  calculated  to  extend 
into  my  waking  the  horror  and  grief  of  my  sleep. 

I  instantly  sprang  to  my  feet  and  saw  Wash- 
ington Cromwell. 

"  Massa  Rodney,"  he  bawled,  "  Massa  Rodney, 
de  gent's  'longside — him  an'  Wilkinson — yaas,  by 
degood  Lord— dey'se  both  dere  !  Dey  hail  me 
an'  I  answer  and  say  who  are  you,  and  dey  say  are 
you  de  Boca  ?  We  am,  I  say,  and  dey  say " 

I  had  stood  stupidly  staring  at  him,  but  my  full 
understanding  coming  to  me  on  a  sudden,  I 
jumped  to  the  ladder  and  darted  on  deck.  I 
heard  voices  aver  the  starboard  side  and  ran  there. 
It  was  not  so  dark  but  that  I  could  see  the  out- 
line of  a  Deal  lugger.  Whilst  I  was  peering,  the 
voice  of  my  man  Wilkinson  cried  out,  "  On  deck, 
there  !  Cromwell— Billy— where's  Mr.  Rodney  ?  " 
Here  I  ami"  cried  I. 

"  My  God,  Paul !  "  exclaimed  the  voice  of  Mr. 
Mason,  "  this  encounter  is  fortunate  indeed." 

I  shouted  to  the  negroes  to  show  a  light,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  Mr.  Mason,  Wilkinson,  and  a 


17*  TH»  FBOOM  PDLATB. 

couple  of  Deal  boatmen  came  orer  the  side.  ; 
grasped  my  relative  by  both  hands.  I  had  hot 
seen  him  for  four  years. 

"  This  is  good  of  you,  indeed  ! "  I  cried.  "  But; 
you  must  be  perished  with  the  cold  of  that  open 
boat  Come  below  at  once — come  Wilkinson, 
and  you  men — there's  a  fire  in  the  cook-room  and 
drink  to  warm  us  ;"  and  down  I  bundled  in  the 
wildest  condkion  of  excitement,  followed  by 
Mason  and  the  others. 

My  relative  was  warmly  clad  and  did  not  seem  to 
suffer  from  the  cold.  He  took  me  by  the  hand  and 
brought  me  to  the  lanthorn-iight,  and  stood  view- 
ing me. 

"  Ay,"  said  he,  "you  are  your  eld  self:  a  bj| 
worried  looking,  but  that'll  pass.  Stout  and 
burnt  Odd's  heart !  Paul,  if  you  have  passed 
through  the  experiences  Wilkinson  has  given  me 
a  sketch  of,  we  must  have  your  life,  man,  we 
toust  have  your  life — for  the  booksellers." 

Well,  I  need  not  detain  you  by  reciting  ail  the 
civilities  and  congratulations '  which  he  and  I 
exchanged.  He  and  Wilkinson  had  arrived  at 
Deal  at  three  o'clock  that  afternoon,  and,  after  a 
hurried  meal,  had  hired  a  lugger  and  started  at 
once  for  Beachy  Head.  It  was  now  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning  ;  and  what  I  may  consider  a  truly 
extraordinary  circumstance  is,  that  they  had 
sailed  as  true  a  course  for  the  schooner  as  if  she 
had  lain  plain  to  the  gaze  at  the  very  start; 
that  since  the  night  had  drawn  down  they  had 
met  no  vessel  of  any  kind  or  description,  until 
they  came*  up  to  us ;  that  in  all  probability  they 


Tm 

would  ha^  ran  stem  on  into  us  if  they  had 
not  seen  wr  lights,  and  that  their  seeing  our 
lights  had  caused  them  to  hail  us,  their  "  ship 
ahoy  1 "  being  instantly  answered  by  Cromwell. 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  there  are  stranger  things  to 
tell  of  than  this,  even.  Now,  Wilkinson,  and  you 
Billy,  and  Cromwell,  get  us  a  good  supper  and 
mix  a  proper  bowl.  How  many  more  of  you  are 
in  the  lugger  ?  " 

"  Four,  sir,"  says  one  m   be  boatmen. 

'  Then  fetch  as  many  as  .  nay  safely  leave  the 
boat,"  said  I.  "  Billy,  get  candles  and  make  a 
good  light  here.  Throw  on  coal,  boys ;  there's 
enough  to  carry  us  home." 

1  saw  Mason  gazing  curiously  about  him. 

Tis  like  a  tale  out  of  the  Arabian  NighU, 
Paul/'  he  exclaimed. 

"  Ay,"  said  I,  "  but  written  in  bitter  prose,  and  no 
hint  of  enchantment  anywhere.  But,  thank  God, 
you  are  come  !  I  have  passed  a  dismal  time  of  ex- 
pectation, I  promise  you."  I  added  softly,  "  I  have 
lomething  secret— we  will  sup  first,  man — 1  shall 
amaze  you  !  We  must  talk  apart  presently." 

He  bowed  his  head. 

Three  more  boatmen  arrived,  giving  us  the 
company  of  five  of  them.  Soon  there  was  a 
hearty  sound  of  frying  and  a  smell  of  good  things 
upon  the  air.  Pitt  put  plates  and  glasses  upon 
the  cabin  table,  two  great  bowls  of  punch  were 
brewed,  and  in  a  little  time  we  had  all  fallen  to. 
I  whispered  Wilkinson,  who  sat  next  me,  "  These 
boatmen  know  nothing  of  our  business ;  I  shall 
to  take  Mr.  Mason  apart  and  anange  with 


THE  FROZEN  PIRATB. 

him.  These  fellows  may  not  b*  fit  for  our 
service.  Let  no  hint  escape  you." 

"  Right,  sir,"  said  he. 

This  I  said  to  disarm  his  suspicions  should  he 
see  me  talking  alone  with  Mr.  Mason.  He  enter- 
tained us  with  an  account  of  his  excursion  to 
London  ;  and  then,  partly  to  appease  the  pro- 
found curiosity  of  the  boatmen  and  partly  to  save 
time  when  I  should  come  to  confer  with  my 
relative,  I  gave  them  the  story  of  my  shipwreck, 
and  told  how  I  had  met  with  the  schooner  and 
how  I  had  managed  to  escape  with  her. 

"  And  now,  Mason,"  said  I,  "  whilst  our  friends 
here  empty  these  bowls,  come  you  with  me 
to  the  cook-room.*'  And  with  that  we  quitted 
the  cabin. 

"  D'ye  mean  to  tell  me,  Paul,"  was  the  first 
question  my  relative  asked,  "  that  this  vessel  was 
on  the  ice  eight-and-forty  years  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  I  replied. 

"  Surely  you  dream?" 

"  I  think  not." 

"  What  we  have  been  eating  and  drinking — is 
that  forty-eight  years  old,  too  ?  " 

"  Ay,  and  older." 

"  Well,  such  a  thing  shall  make  me  credulous 
enough  to  duck  old  women  for  witches.  But  what 
brandy — what  brandy  !  Never  had  spirit  such  a 
bouquet.  Every  pint  is  worth  its  weight  in  guineas 
to  a  rich  man.  To  think  of  Deal  boatmen  and 
niggers  swilling  such  nectar !  " 

"  Mason,"  said  I,  speaking  low,  "  give  me  now 
your  attention.  In  the  run  of  this  schooner  are 


THE  EMD.  581 

ten  chests  loaded  with  money,  bars  *f  silver  and 
gold,  and  jewellery.  This  vessel  was  a  pirate,  and 
her  people  valued  their  booty  at  ninety  to  a 
hundred  thousand  pounds. 

His  jaw  fell ;  he  stared  as  if  he  knew  not  whether 
it  was  he  or  I  that  was  mad. 

"  Here  is  evidence  that  I  speak  the  truth," 
said  I.  "A  little  sample  only — but  look  at  it !  " 
And  I  put  the  pirate  captain's  watch  into  his 
hand. 

He  eyed  it  as  though  he  discredited  the  intelli- 
gence of  his  sight,  turned  it  about,  and  returned 
it  to  me  with  a  faint  "  Heaven  preserve  me  I " 
Then  said  he,  still  faintly,  "  You  found  some  of 
the  pirates  alive  ?  " 

"  No.1' 

"  Who  told  you  that  the  people  of  the  vessel 
valued  their  plunder  at  that  amount?" 

I  answered  by  giving  him  the  story  of  the 
recovery  of  the  Frenchman. 

He  listened  with  a  gaze  of  consternation :  I  saw 
how  it  was ;  he  believed  my  sufferings  had  affected 
my  reason.  There  was  only  one  way  to  settle 
his  mind ;  I  took  a  lanthorn,  and  asked  him  to 
follow  me.  As  we  passed  through  the  cabin  I 
whispered  Wilkinson  that  I  meant  to  show  my 
relative  the  lading  below,  and  bade  him  keep  the 
Deal  men  about  him.  I  had  the  keys  of  the 
chests  in  my  pocket :  lifting  the  after-hatch,  we 
entered  the  lazarette,  and  Mason  gazed  about 
him  with  astonishment.  But  I  was  in  too  great 
a  hurry  to  return  to  suffer  him  to  idly  stand  and 
stare.  I  opened  the  second  hatch  and  descended  j 


382  THI  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

into  the  run,  and  crawling  to  the  jewel  chest  opened 
it,  removed  a  few  of  the  small-arms,  and  bade  him 
look  for  himself. 

"  Incredible  1   incredible  !  "    he  cried. 
possible  1    is   it   possible!     Well,    to   be   sure! 
And  for  some  moments  he  could  find  no  more  to 
say,  so  amazed  and  confounded  was  he. 

I  quickly  showed  him  the  gold  and  silver  ingot 
and   then  'returned  the  firearms  and  locked 

chests. 

"  Tfost"  said   I   emphatically,  pointing  t 
cases,  "  have  been  my  difficulty  ;  not  the  lading, 
though  there  is  value  there  too.     My  crew  know 
nothing  of  these  chests  :  of  their  value,  I  mea 
tfiey  believe  them  cases  of  small-arms.     How  am 
I  to  get  them  ashore?     If   I  tell  the  truth,  they 
will  be  seized  as  piratical  plunder. 
cate,  I  may  tumble  into  a  pit  of  difficulties. 
durst  not  carry  them   to  the  Thames,  the  n\ 
swarms  with  thieves  and  Custom   House  people 
I  am  terrified  to  linger  here,  lest   I   be  board 
and  the  booty  discovered.     There  is  but  one  pi; 
I  think  :  we  must  hire  some   Deal  smugglers 
run  these  chests  and  the  cargo  for  us. 
now  alongside  might  serve,  and  1  donjt  dou 
»en  are  to  be  had  at  their  own  price.' 

My  relative  had  regained  his  wits,  which 

ight  of  the  treasure  had  temporarily  scattere- 


and  surveyed  me  thoughtfully  whilst  [  spok< 
then  said,  "  Let  us  return  to  the  fire;  1 
have  a  better  scheme  than  yours." 

The  men  still  sat   around  the  table    tall 
Some   liquor  yet  lay   in  one  of  the  bowl; 


«r«  •fcll°WS  w?*  hapwr  enough.  I  smiled  at 
Wilkinson  as  I  passed,  that  he  might  suppose 
our  inspection  below  very  satisfactory,  and  I 
saw  him  look  meaningly  and  pleasantly  at 
Washington  Cromwell,  who  sat  with  a  laced  hat 
on  his  head. 

"  Paul,"  said  Mason,  sitting  down  and  folding 
us  arms,  "  your  smuggling  plan  will  not  do.     It 
be  the  height  of  madness  to  trust  those 
chests  to  the  risks  of  running  and  to  the  honesty 
of  the  rogues  engaged  in  that  business." 
'What  is  to  be  done?1' 
'Tell  me  your  lading,"  said  he. 
I  gave  it  to  him  as  accurately  as  I  could. 
1  Why,1'  he  exclaimed,  "  a  single  boat  would 
|  a  long  time  to  discharge  ye— observe  the 
>enls — several  boats  would  mean  a  large  number 
t  men;   they  would  eat  you   up;    they  would 
mand  so  much,  you  would  have  nothing  left 
And  suppose  they  opened  the  chests  I    No,  your 
fcheme  is  worthless. 

'  What's  to  do,  then,  in  God's  name  r"» 

I  tell  you!  "  he  exclaimed,  smiling  with  the 
omplacency  of  a  man  who  is  master  of  a  great 
I  shall  sail  to  Dover  at  once.     'Tis i  now 
i  quarter  past  four.     Give  me  twelve  hours  to 
nake  Dover:  I  shall  post  straight  to  London  and 
there  by  early  morning.     Now,  Paul,  attend 
i  to  this.     To-day  is  Wednesday ;  by  to-morrow 
night  you  must  contrive  to  bring  your  ship  to  an 
anchor  off  Barking  Level." 
'The  Thames  I"  I  cried. 
He  nodded. 


384  THE  Tkoztii  PIRATE. 

I  looked  at  him  anxiously.  He  leaned  to  me, 
putting  his  hand  on  my  leg. 

"  I  own  a  lighter,"  said  he :  "  she  will  be 
alongside  of  you  at  dusk.  I  have  people  of  my 
own  whom  I  can  trust.  The  lighter  will  empty 
your  hold  and  convey  the  lading  to  a  ship 
chartered  by  me,  arrived  from  the  Black  Sea  on 
Sunday  and  lying  in  the  Pool  The  stuff  can  be 
sold  from  that  ship  as  it  is — " 

14  But  the  chests — the  chests,  Mason  I " 

"  They  shall  be  lowered  into  another  boat,  and 
taken  ashore  and  put  into  a  waggon  that  will  be 
in  waiting — I  in  it — and  driven  to  my  home." 

I  clapped  him  on  the  shoulder  in  a  transport. 

"  Nobly  schemed  indeed  I "  I  cried ;  "  but  have 
we  nothing  to  fear  from  the  Customs  people  ?  " 

"  No,  not  low  down  the  river  and  at  dark. 
You  bring  up  for  convenience,  d'ye  see.  Mind  it 
is  dark  when  you  anchor.  A  lighter  and  boat 
shall  be  awaiting  you.  Kt  is  down  the  river,  you 
know,  that  all  the  lumpers  drop  with  the  lighters 
they  go  adrift  in  from  ships'  sides.  There's  more 
safety  in  smuggling  over  Thames  mud  than  on 
this  coast  shingle.  One  thought  more:  you 
say  that  Wilkinson  believes  the  chests  hold  small- 
arms?" 

"Yes." 

"  Then  account  to  him  for  sending  the  chests 
away  separately  by  saying  that  I  have  found  a 
purchaser,  and  that  they  are  going  to  him  direct. 
You  have  your  cue-— j  ou  see  ail  1 ' 

"  All'' 

"  Ut  me  hurry,  then,  Paul ;  that  brandy  should 


THB  BUD.  385 

fetch  you  half  a  guinea  a  pint.  You  are  in  luck's 
way,  Paul.  See  that  you  bring  your  ship  along 
safely.  Till  to-morrow  night ! " 

He  clasped  and  wrung  my  hand  and  ran  into 

the  cabin. 

°Now,  lads,  off  with  us!"  he  cried.  "Off  to 
Dover!  Put  me  ashore  there  smartly  and  you 
shall  find  your  account.  Off  now— time  presses." 

Five  minutes  afterwards  the  boat  was  gone. 

When    fortune   falls   in   love   with   a  man  she 
makes    him    a   bounteous    mistress.     Everything 
fell   out  as  I  could  have    desired.     We  got  our 
anchor  at  five,  and  by  daybreak  were  off  Hastings 
jogging  quietly  along  towards  London  .river,  the 
weather  conveniently  obscure,  the  wind  south,  and 
forty    hours    before    us   to    do    the    run    in.     I 
exactly  explained  my  relative's  scheme  to  Wilkin- 
son   and    the  others,   who   declared   themselves 
perfectly  satisfied,  Wilkinson  adding  that  though 
he  had  not  objected  to  the  Deal  smuggling  pro- 
ject he  throughout  considered  the  risk  too  heavy 
to    adventure.     I    told    them    that   Mr.    Mason 
believed  he  could  immediately  find  a  purchaser 
for  the  small-arms,  in  which  case  they  would  have 
to  be  sent  privately  ashore;  and  to  give  a.  proper 
colour  to  this  ruse  I  made  them  pack  away  all 
the    remaining  weapons   in   the   arms-room  and 
carry  them  to  the  run,  ready  to  be  taken  with  the 
other  chests. 

Once  fairly  round  the  Forelands  half  my 
anxieties  fell  from  me.  There  was  no  longer  the 
French  cruiser  or  privateer  to  be  feared,  and  how- 
ever wonderingly  the  people  of  my  own  country*! 


386  THE  FROZE*  PIRATB, 

vessels  might  stare  at  the  uncommon  figure  of  my 
schooner,  they  could  find  no  excuse  to  board  us. 
Besides,  as  I  have  said,  I  was  greatly  helped  bv 
the  weather,  which  continuing  hazy,  thougfi 
happily  never  so  thick  as  to  oblige  me  to  stop, 
delivered  me  to  the  sight  only  of  such  vessels 
as  passed  close,  and  offered  me  as  a  m^re 
smudge  to  the  shore. 

We  arrived  off  Barking  Level  on  the  Thursday 
night,  and  dropped  anchor  close  to  a  lighter 
that  lay  there  with  a  large  boat  hanging  by 
her.  It  was  then  very  dark.  The  first  person 
to  come  on  board  was  Mason.  He  was 
followed  by  several  men,  one  of  whom  he 
introduced  to  me  as  his  head  clerk,  who  would 
see  to  the  unloading  of  the  schooner  and  to  the 
transhipment  of  the  goods  to  the  ship  in  the  Pool. 
He  informed  me  that  there  was  a  covered  van 
waiting  on  shore ;  and  telling  Wilkinson  that  the 
small-arms  had  been  discos  \  of,  and  that  Mi. 
Mason  would  hand  over  the  proceeds  on  our 
calling  at  his  office,  I  went  with  a  party  of  my 
relative's  men  into  the  run  and  presently  had  the 
whole  of  the  chests  in  the  boat.  Mason  went 
with  her. 

Then,  as  she  disappeared  in  the  darkness,  but 
Hot   till  then,  did   I   draw  the  first    easy   breath 
1    had    fetched  since    the  liour   of   the   coll 
of    the    Laiighing .  Mary   with    the    iceberg. 
sob    shook   me :     I     had    gone    through   much : 
many  wonderful  things  had  happened   to  me:   I 
had    been  delivered    from    such  perils    ; 
mere  recollection  of  them  will  stir  mj  hair,  tru 


PosTsciurr.  387 

it  is  years  since;  my  duty  I  knew,  and  I  dis- 
cnarged  it  by  withdrawing  to  my  cabin  and  kneel- 
ing with  humble  and  grateful  heart  before 
the  throne  of  that  Being  to  whom  I  owed  every- 
thing. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

HERE  concludes  the  remarkable  narrative  of  Mr. 
Paul  Rodney.     It  is  to  be  wished  that  he  had  found 
the  patience  to  tell  us  a  little  more.     The  circum- 
stance of  his  dying  in  1823,  worth  3i,ooo/.,  leads 
me  to  suspect  that  his  associate  Tassard  greatly 
exaggerated  the  value    of   the    treasure.     I  am 
assured  that  he  lived  very  quietly,  and  that  the 
lady  he  married,  who  bore  him  two  children,  both 
of  whom  died  young,  was  of  a  nunlike  simplicity 
of  character  and  loved  show  and  extravagance 
as    little    as    her    husband.      Hence    there   is 
no   reason   to   suppose  that   he   squandered  any 
portion    of  the  fortune    that  had    in    the  most 
extraordinary  manner  ever  heard  of  fallen  into  his 
hands.     I  have  ascertained  that  he  very  substan- 
tially discharged  the    great    obligation   that   his 
relative  Mason  laid  him  under,  and  that  his  three 
men  received  a  thousand  pounds  apiece.     It  is 
possible,  then,  that  the  pirates  were  themselves 
deceived,  that  what  they  had  taken  to  be  gold  or 
silver  ingots  were  not  all  so ;  or  it  might  be  that 
the  case  of  jewellery  was  less  valuable  than  the 
admiring  and  astonished  eyes  of  a  plain  sailor, 
who  admits  that  he  had  never  before  seen  such  a 
sight,  figured  it.     Be  this,  however,  as  it  may,  k 


388  THE  FROZEN  PIRATE. 

is  nevertheless  certain,  as  proved  by  Mr.  Rodney's 
last  will  and  testament,  that  he  did  uncommonly 
well  out  of  his  adventure  on  the  ice. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  his   story  of  the 
Frenchman's  restoration  to  life,  in  other  directions 
Mr.    Rodney's  accuracy    seems    unimpeachable. 
It  is  quite  conceivable  that  a  stoutly-built  vessel 
locked  up  in  the  ice  and  thickly  glazed,  should 
continue  in  an  excellent   state  of  preservation  for 
years.     The  confession  of  his  superstitious  fears 
exhibits  honesty  and   candour.     It  is  related  th;it 
a  Captain  Warren,  master  of  an  English  merchant- 
ship,  found  a  derelict  (in  August,  1775)  thai 
long  been  ice-bound,  with   her  cabins    filled  with 
the  bodies  of  the  frozen  crew.     "  His  own  sailors, 
however,   would    not    suffer    him    to    search    the 
vessel     thoroughly,    through     superstition,     and 
wished  to  leave  her  immediately.'      A  pity 
did  not  try  their  hands  at  thawing  one  of  thr 
fellows:  the  result  mu7hthav«  kept  Mr.  K 
strange  experience  in  coumenanr 

Accounts  of  vast   bodies  of  ice,  such  as    : 
which  Mr.  Rodney  fell  in  with,  will  be  found  in  the 
South  Atlantic  Directory.     For  instance  :— 

"  Sir  James  C.  Ross  crossed  Weddel's  track  in 
Lat.  65°  S.,  and  where  he  had  found  an  open  sea, 
Ross  found  an  ice-pack  of  an  impassable  cha- 
racter, along  which  he  sailed  for  160  miles;  arid 
again,  when  only  one  degree  beyond  the  track  of 
Cook,  who  had  no  occasion  to  enter  the  pack, 
Ross  was  navigating  among  it  for  fifty- six 
days, 

"  Hut  theie  appear  insignificant  when  compared 


POSTSCRIPT.  389 

with  a  body  of  ice  reputed  to  have  been  passed 
by  twenty-one  ships  during  the  months  of 
December,  1854,  and  January,  February,  March, 
and  April,  1855,  floating  in  the  South  Atlantic 
from  Lat  44°  S.,  Long.  28°  W.,  to  Lat.  40°  S.,  Long. 
26°  W.  Its  elevation  in  no  case  exceeded  300 
feet.  The  first  account  of  it  was  received  from  the 
Great  Britain,  which  in  December,  1854,  was 
reported  to  have  steamed  50  miles  along  the 
outer  side  of  the  longer  shank."  One  ship  was 
lost  upon  it :  others  embayed* 


TNC    CUD. 


mig  Corner 
Series 


•••4 


Choice  selection  of  books  suitable 
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1  Adventures  of  a  Brown!  J  as  told  to  my  child.  Miss  Mulock 

2  Alice's  Adventures  in  Wonderland.    Lewis  Carroll. 

3  Aunt  Diana.    Rosa  N.  Carey. 

4  AverH.    Rosa  N.  Carey. 

5  Black  Beauty.    Anna  Sewall. 

6  Chaplain's  Daughter.    Heimburg. 

7  Children  of    the  Abbey.    Maria  Roche. 

8  Cuckoo  Clock.     Mrs.  Molesworth. 

9  Esther.    Rosa  N.  Carey. 

10  Erl  Queen.    N.  Von  Eschstruth. 

11  Flat  Iron  for  a  Farthing.     Mrs.  Ewing, 
13  Four  Little  flischiefs.     Rosa  Mulholland. 

13  Florence  and  John. 

14  Florence  in  the  Bngiish  Channel. 

15  Florence  in  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

16  Florence  on  the  Orkney  island. 

17  Florence  Returns. 

18  Gertrude's  Marriage.    Heimburg. 

19  Girl  in  Ten  Tho«icnnd.    L.  T.  Meade, 


By   Jacob  Abbott 

Author  of 

The   Rollo  Books 

etc.,  etc.,  etc. 


SNUG  CORNER  SERIES-Contlnue* 

do  Gold  Elsie.    Mariitt. 

31  Good  Luck.    L.  T.  Meade. 

22  in  the  Schillings  Court.    Mariitt 

23  Jackanapes.    Mis,  J.  H.  Ewing, 

24  Jan  of  the  Windmill.    Mrs.  J.  H.  Ewtaff, 

25  Little  Lame  Prince.    Miss  Mulock. 

26  Lora,  the  Major's  Daughter.    Heimbafg 

27  Merle's  Crusade.    Rosa  N.  Carey. 

28  Misjudged.    Heimburg. 

29  Naughty  Miss  Bunny.    Clara  MulhcHand 

30  Not  Like  Other  Girls.    Rosa  N.  Carey. 

31  Old  Mam'selles  Secret.    Mariitt. 

33  Only  the  Governess.    Rosa  N.  Carey 

33  Owl's  Nest,  The.    Mariitt. 

34  Pastor's  Daughter.    Heimburg. 

35  Princess  of  The  Moor.    Mariitt 

36  Queenie's  Whim.    RosaN,  Carey. 

37  Second  Wife.    Mariitt. 

38  Sister's  Love,  A.    Heimburg. 

39  Six  Little  Princesses.    Elizabeth  Prentiss. 

40  Through  the  Looking  Glass.    Lewis  Carroll. 

41  Us.    Mrs.  Molesworth. 

42  Wee  Wifle.    Rosa  N.  Carey. 

43  Wide,  Wide  World.    Elizabeth  Wetherell. 

44  Wild  Rose  of  Gross  Stauffen.    N  Von  Eschstruth. 

45  Wild  Kitty.    L.  T.  Meade. 

46  Wonder  Book.    N.  Hawthorne. 

47  Wooed  and  Harried.    Rosa  N.  Carey. 


tor  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  sent  on  receipt  of  price  by 

Donohue  Brothers, 

407-429  Dearborn  St,  CHICAGO. 


FOR  BOYS. 

Clot V  .!!y  Stnmprd  in  Ink 

.'•.nd  Gold,  Illus-trated. 

Price,  §1.00. 
By  ARCHDEACON  FARRAR. 

Ik  I  Eric,  or  Little  by  Little,  a  Tale  ol 

;lyn  School. 

Pi  a  Julian  Home,  a  Tale  of  College 
*;/  Life. 

^^^^^___  3    St.  Winifred's,  or  the  World  of 

School. 
By  THOMAS   HUGHES. 

4  Tom  Brown's  School  Days  at  Rugby. 

5  Tom  Brown  at  Oxford. 

•These  stories  of  school  life  by  the  famous  author  of  the  "Life  of  Christ* 
are  not  surpassed  in  interest  and  hiph  moral  tone  by  any  boys'  stories  writ- 
tan.  They  picture  in  an  eloquent  and  exceedingly  fascinating  mauuar  life 
at  school,  Its  temptations,  struggles  and  rewards. 


Bold  Series 


By  ARTHUR  M.  WINFIELD. 

Wew  Edition,  Handsomely  Illus- 
trated and  Bound. 

Price,  per  volume,  $0.75 
Set  of  4:  in  box,     -    3.00 

1  Poor  but  Plucky,  or  the  Mystery 

of  a  Flood. 
a  School  Days  of  Fred  Harley,  or 

Rivals  for  all  Honors. 

3  By  Pluck,  Not  Luck,  or  Dan  Gran- 

bury's  Strucrcrle  to  Rise. 

4  The  Missing  Tin  Box,  or  Hal  Car- 

son's Remarkable  City  Adventure 
PRE5S  NOTICES  OP  MR.  WINFIGLD'S  BOOKS. 

"A  capital  book  by  Arthur  M.  Wlmfield,  who  knows  how  to  tell  a  story  that 
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Post- Express. 

'There  are  many  writers  of  books  for  boys,  but  none  better  than  Mr. 
«> infield. "—Bright  !>>• 

i:d  the  tale  is  toiu  in  a  ' 


For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  sent  on  receipt  of  pnce  ky 

M.  A.  DOftOHUE  &  CO./ 

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Caine'i  Bi$tory  of 


New  Edition,  Large  Type, 
Popular  Edit!  n. 

1  Volume,  cloth  $1.25 

2  Volumes,  cloth,  30  illus- 

trations       -  2.50 

2  Volumes,    half    calf,    30 

illustrations,          -  5.06 


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7  Volumes,  gilt  top 
12  Volumes,  Handy 


$2.50 
3.5d 
3.00 


SHAKESPEARE'S    PLAYS. 

Paper  covers,  each,  10c.,  or  12  for  $l.vn; 


Ail's  Weil  that  Ends  Well. 

Twelfth  Night. 

Cytnbeiine. 

Romeo  and  Juliet. 

Macbeth. 

Hamlet. 

fluch  Ado  About  Nothing. 

The  Merchant  of  Venice, 

King  Henry  V. 

The  Comedy  of  Errors. 

Othello. 

Measure  for  Measure. 

Taming  of  the  Shrew. 

Richard  III. 


Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 

flerry  Wives  of  Windsor* 

King  Henry  VIII. 

Julius  Ca;sar. 

As  You  Like  It. 

The  Tempest. 

A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream. 

King  John. 

King  Richard  II. 

King  Lear. 

Antony  and  Cleopatra, 

A  Winter's  Tale. 

Coriolattus. 

Timon  of  Athens. 


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Quarto 
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AMERICA  PHOTOGRAPHED. 

Including  portfolio  of  photographs  covering  points  of  scenic 
and  historic  interest  in  North  America.  The  greatest  works 
of  art  and  nature  in  the  United  States,  Alaska,  Canada  and  Mex- 
ico. Over  160  pages  of  beautiful  half  tone  illustrations,  size 
12)^x10^  inches,  with  descriptive  text  under  each,  printed  on 
the  highest  quality  coated  paper  and  substantially  bound  in  silk 
cloth  binding  with  aluminum  stamp  made  from  a  unique  and 
striking  die.  The  most  comprehensive,  elaborate  and  extensive 
series  of  American  views  ever  gathered  together  within  the 
scope  of  one  volume. 

Price,  $1.50* 


ALSO  LAND  OF  CHRIST, 

160  pages,     .    .    .    .    , $1.50 

OUR  NEW  POSSESSIONS, 
ISO  pagts, $i.3» 

UNITED  STATES  ARHY  AND  NAVY, 

180  pages $1.50 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  sent  on  receipt  ef  price 
...by... 


Donohue  Brothers, 

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A     000127679     9 


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